


Persona 5: The Sky's Reach

by Broccoli2002



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, basically p5 with an oc, maybe ill write royal one day, no royal purely og p5, thats all no spoilers here, theres like one or two chapters where some messed up shit happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 51
Words: 242,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27676196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broccoli2002/pseuds/Broccoli2002
Summary: Hikaru Aozora was an ordinary kid. Well, as ordinary as the heir of one of the largest media companies of Japan can be. And all of that comes with its own issues. Adding onto that some magical wonder, a deal, and the balance of the world, and, well, he sure has his work cut out for him.My version of P5 with my OC. Ends up with Akira, if you don't like that, don't read.
Relationships: Kurusu Akira/OC
Comments: 25
Kudos: 35





	1. The First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to P5: The Sky's Reach (title still under work)! This is my version of P5 with an OC. I've been working on this since like 2018, but then I stopped writing around the end of Kamoshida's. 2 years later and the release of Royal got me back in P5, so I brought this baby back out. I started rewriting everything and continuing since February, since it's quarantine and I have nothing better to do anyways. Recently started university, that's been an experience, online classes are shit. The first few chapters are definitely a lot more shorter than later ones, so if that annoys you for some reason, just hold out until like chapter 12-ish. I have everything basically written, from start till end, but I'll slowly release things as time goes on. I might feel like making some changes to later chapters. Other than that, I think that's about it. Enjoy Chapter 1!

The first encounter was quick, but memorable.

“If we’re done here, mind if we get going? I have a store to tend to, if you don’t mind,” Sojiro said, and Principal Kobayakawa let them leave with a warning towards Akira once again. Kawakami also asked for Akira to come to the faculty office tomorrow morning. As they were leaving, Akira’s eyes met another student’s.

The student was decently tall, about his height, with brown, short and messy hair. His sky-blue eyes were dim, tired. He wore the school blazer, along with an orange hoodie inside. The boy was carrying a stack of books, all decently thick. He gave a weak smile to Akira, to which he responded with the same. The student then walked past him, heading back to somewhere. Sojiro then called for Akira to hurry. He sped off, not wanting to keep his guardian waiting.

He hurried to the car where Sojiro was waiting, glancing back at the school once more, and entered the car. On the radio was news about a subway incident, causing a mess in the train schedules for the next few weeks, possibly. It was reported that the conductor had a mental shutdown, causing the train to swerve and almost hit a huge amount of people.

Sojiro sighed, glancing over at Akira. “It’s been these mental shutdown incidents all over the news. Ugh, be careful on your way to school tomorrow, okay?” Akira nodded, and they spent the rest of the trip back to Leblanc in silence.

“Jeez, I wasn’t able to open the store at all today, damn traffic. Whatever, I’m locking up. You have school tomorrow, so be sure to go to sleep, okay?” Sojiro said, leaving. Akira looked around and decided to head to bed, seeing as he had nothing else to do.

Before he slept, he heard a ringing sound. Akira went downstairs, seeing the yellow phone on the counter ringing. He picked it up, and heard Sojiro’s voice.

“Yo, it’s me. I closed up shop, but I forgot to flip the sign outside. Do me a favor and flip it, ok?” Sojiro asked, and hung up. Akira did what he was asked and returned back to bed, thinking about his train routes tomorrow. He double checked the routes on his phone.

Before closing his phone, he noticed a strange app. He tried to delete it and rebooted his phone to be safe. ‘It could be a virus,’ Akira thought, starting to fall asleep.

~~~

He had a strange dream.

A dream that he was fighting a god. The god was seemingly made of metal, and had huge wings that spread to its sides. It was sitting cross-legged, but still towered over them by a huge amount. The god was colossal, even taller than the tallest clouds. Its loud and deep voice bellowed across the universe itself.

**_“Foolish mortals who have resisted the change of humanity, your end is here. I applaud your efforts, but this is the will of humanity itself.”_ **

Akira said something, but he couldn’t hear himself. He felt the presence of others around him, but everything was locked. He couldn’t move. He could only watch as what looked like a final strike came from the deity in front of him. All he could hear was one soft whisper.

_“Live for me, Kira.”_

The last thing he saw was a bright flash, and someone stepping in front of him, arms spread protectively.

~~~

Back in the school, the student was in the library, placing the books back into the shelf, sighing as he did so. He grabbed the last book, a book titled _“The Tarot and Human Psyche”_.

“Tarot, huh? Maybe I should take a look at that…” The boy picked up the book, checked it out and left the library.

“Hey, Aozora!” The boy flinched, as he turned around to meet the eyes of the teacher known for taking the volleyball team to nationals, Kamoshida.

“You returned those books yet?” He said with a gruff tone, to which the boy nodded quickly and turned away from him. He couldn’t stand this teacher, and yet he knew he had to.

“Yes, Mr. Kamoshida. What do you need?” He said, and the teacher gave him a huge grin, patting him on the back harshly.

“Oh, I just wanted to let you know that there’s going to be a new transfer student coming on Monday. Word is that he’s a delinquent with a criminal record, so I thought it would be good to inform you,” Kamoshida said, and the boy just looked away.

“Um, thanks, but I need to be going, so I will see you tomorrow,” He muttered, turning and walking away. Kamoshida glanced at him, a dark look appearing on his face.

“Urgh, that kid…” Kamoshida growled darkly, and turned back to where he came from.

The boy sighed in relief as he left the conversation. He could barely put up with that teacher, if he even deserved to be called one. He wanders around school for a while, just listening to conversations by students and teachers alike. Maybe he’ll even hear some about himself.

_“Did you hear? A new transfer student with a criminal record is coming,”_

_“I heard he’s a second year, in Kawakami’s class. Thank God,”_

_“Wait, isn’t that the class that Aozora and Takamaki are in? I’m worried about them, especially Takamaki. Who knows what he will do to her?”_

_“What the hell are you thinking? You think Kamoshida’s gonna let him do anything to his bitch?”_

The boy sighed. He’s heard all of this before. And he’s sick of it.

He sighed once again as he got to the entrance of the school, seeing a black limousine waiting for him there. A guard was standing next to the door.

The guard nodded at him, opening the door. The brunet climbed in as the guard returned to the driver’s seat and started the car. He glanced at the book in his hands, deciding to crack it open and read it, seeing as he had nothing else to do.

“The Twenty-Two Major Arcana: The Different Shapes of the Human Mind.”

~~~

That night, the brunet also had a strange dream. He dreamed of velvet, of chains and prisons, and a long-nosed man. He dreamt of a velvet-clad man and woman, smiles on their faces and books under their arms.

The people in the velvet had pale skin and hair, and strikingly yellow eyes. They were talking to the man with the large nose, in the middle of the room.

_“Something has disrupted the balance of the Velvet Room. Elizabeth, we need to take precautions. Is Margaret still away monitoring Mr. Narukami?”_

_“Yes, Master. Theodore and I will prepare. Will you be alright, Master?”_

_“Fret not, for I believe in the Trickster that has appeared. Lavenza will still make sure he is fine, even if she is split by the fake.”_

_“Then, we bid you adieu. We will see you soon, Master.”_

_“May you be safe and successful, my attendants.”_

The man with the nose vanished, leaving the man and woman. They turned, looking straight at the boy.

_“We will need your help, Young Master Aozora. You will be essential for making sure that everything returns to how it should be. We will come to you soon, and we hope you can help us in this crisis.”_

“Who are you, what do you mean,” was all the brunet could get out before everything faded.

He snapped up in his bed, drawing deep breaths. A chill ran down his spine. He took deep breaths to calm down his racing heart. Was that a dream? What did he see?

He felt something in his grasp and looked down to see a key. It was blue and modern, with a logo containing a golden V branded on it.

What was happening to him?

~~~

Aozora, meaning the blue sky, was a name well known throughout all of Tokyo. Most business corporations and every one of their employees knew that name. One of the most powerful media companies in the world, even the government are afraid of messing with the Aozora Media Works. The slogan of the company, “ _Knowledge is power_ ”, takes on a whole new meaning when you learn the true amount of information that the Aozora family have.

The Aozoras were said to hold infinite knowledge, from the small-time convenience store workers all the way to government secrets. As such, the Aozoras are the only one of their kind, a media company able to sit in on federal meetings and is bound by oath to keep those secrets to themselves, lest they face the consequences of going against the country itself.

Many believe that the Aozora influence affects everyone, no matter who you were. The web of information gatherers the Aozora have is unmatched, able to access deep company secrets, unknown military plans, even unknown backgrounds. If you were a citizen in the country of Japan, then you are in the eyes of the Aozora. But with power comes responsibility.

Several years ago, the Aozora had a corrupt head, planning to use the power of information to overthrow the government itself. And as powerful as the name is, it is unmatched against the will of the entire country. What it had cost was almost enough to crash the economy of Japan. Since then, laws were set to ensure that nothing like that could ever happen again.

The Aozora had rules restricting their power. One was that the Aozora were separated from the regular press. They were no longer allowed to act like a regular media company and would need explicit permission for an interview. Another was that they needed to make monthly reports on the state of the company, such as planned projects, papers and interviews released, information gathered.

However, through all that, the Aozora kept their prestige. Their papers almost sold out everyday, due to the rarity of it. Companies would die to get an interview with the Aozora, as it is the epitome of public attention. Anyone reported on by the Aozora was center stage for the country.

The current CEO of the company, Kazuyoshi Aozora, was a respectable and serious man. The loss of his wife Margaret, however, had shaped the man into his stoic demeanor today, changing the family dynamic heavily. His only son, Hikaru Aozora, was the heir to the large company, and with it, the secrets to the world.

Hikaru didn’t enjoy this lifestyle. After his mother’s passing a few years ago, the boy had turned introverted and cautious. He didn’t have any friends at all, as his status as an Aozora and his personality turned away anyone who tried. He knew they mean well, but no one wanted to be friends with someone who could ruin your life.

The death of Margaret was where the Aozora prestige became more dangerous than ever. With his mother’s passing, many people flung themselves to Hikaru’s father, hoping that they will be the one chosen to be with the CEO. There was no actual emotion in those people, they just wanted things, from money to even espionage. One attempted poisoning later and his father couldn’t stay that kind anymore. He had to protect himself, as well as his son who saw all his friends turn on him.

In this world, it’s the survival of the fittest, and information gave you a huge lead. Anyone would want to grab that away from them.

A freak event saw Hikaru being removed from public schooling, allowing personal tutors to educate him. All potential business partners were turned away, and the person who attacked Kazuyoshi Aozora was made to regret their choice heavily. The message left by the CEO was clear.

_You mess with the Aozoras, and I will destroy everything you have._

The boy had wished for a normal life, with a close group of friends, and regular outings. He remembered having that childish dream a few years ago, approaching his father and asking to go to a regular school instead of having all the home tutors. He had agreed, on one condition.

Hikaru sighed. He was once again, in a limousine, on the way to school. Everyone stared as the car drove past, but Jason has gotten used to it. He fiddled with his phone. The book he borrowed yesterday was in his lap, marked with a bookmark.

His mind wandered to the dream he had. Was it a dream? Or some sort of delusion in his mind? He didn’t know, but his curiosity was peaking. He wanted to know more, so badly.

The limousine stopped at the school gates, and he stepped out. Hikaru breathed, feeling the judgmental stares on him from all the other students. All he could do was walk on.

Time for another day of school.


	2. Brushing Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a liar. I realize that the first few chapters are short as hell, so have another one. Maybe I'll do daily uploads. Also, I should add that the characters might be a bit OOC. P5 is a dialogue-heavy game, and I'm really lazy to write every line of dialogue, so what I'm going to do for the rest of the story is basically keep things short. Expect boss scenes, confrontations, all those talking scenes to be basically summarized into half a chapter or more. If you're reading this story, you probably already know what's going to happen anyway, so I'm cutting things out.

Hikaru was almost asleep in class when Kawakami had an announcement.

“Alright class, this is the new transfer student. Now, you all have heard the rumors, and those are stupid. Just treat him like you would any other normal student, alright?”

The brunet glanced up to see the guy he saw yesterday. He looked slightly messed up, with small scratches on his chin and scuff marks on his clothes, but was otherwise somewhat good-looking.

“The scratches really don’t help with the image everyone has,” Hikaru muttered to himself.

“Tell me about it,” a voice said to his left. He turned over, towards Ann Takamaki. Being the only other mixed student in the school, the both of them had formed a sort of friendship. They usually talked often with each other in class, sitting somewhat close to each other, but aside from that, they sticked to their own friend groups.

Hikaru remembered how Ann approached him early in their first year and asked to sit beside him during introductions because all the other boys wouldn’t stop drooling over her. He hummed and gestured to the seat, and that was the first time the boy had anything close to a friend.

Hikaru glanced forward again at the new student’s introduction. He introduced himself as Akira Kurusu and was assigned to the seat behind Ann. He looked over to the brunet teen while walking past and gave a small smile. The quiet kid responded with the same. Immediately, the whispers became louder, but silenced as Hikaru glanced over. The transfer student looked confused, whereas Ann just softly giggled.

The day continued on as normal, until the end of class. Hikaru was exiting the classroom when he saw Sakamoto Ryuji coming towards the class.

Now, it wasn’t like they knew each other or that they hated each other. In fact, Hikaru would say he has no ill will to the blond at all. Hearing the stories Ann had told him, he seemed like a normal, albeit eccentric, person. However, it didn’t seem like Ryuji liked him at all. It had nothing to do with Hikaru as an individual, but more his status as an Aozora. Ryuji didn’t come from a rich background and had to work hard with his mother just to come to school. Anyone in that position would normally have a sense of envy for the higher class, since they seem to have everything. Add that to Hikaru’s normally introverted and quiet attitude, and you get a misinterpreted view of a snobbish rich kid. It happened before, so it wasn’t new.

Hikaru stayed quiet as Ryuji ignored him, pushing past the brunet to talk to the person behind him, that being Akira. Hikaru sighed. He supposed he did this to himself, being the way that he is.

“Hey, I need to talk to you. Come with me,” Ryuji had said. Hikaru decided then that that wasn’t any of his business and moved on. He needed to be in the library, after all.

~~~

“Who was that?” Akira asked. Ryuji looked at him in confusion.

“Who?”

“The guy in front of me earlier, with the hoodie and brown hair. You really didn’t seem to like him.” Ryuji groaned.

“Oh, that dude. You probably have heard rumors about him already. It’s not like the entire school _idolizes_ him or anything,” Ryuji said in distaste. Akira wasn’t sure why. The student seemed like a friendly guy. After having a full day, all he got was stares and whispers. He was the only one who smiled at him, treated him like a normal person.

“So he’s the Aozora everyone keeps talking about?” Akira asked, which Ryuji confirmed. It wasn’t his business, but Akira felt like the brunet seemed… sad, almost. He just seemed so tired.

“Why do people hate him? He seemed like a nice guy,” Akira added. Ryuji just scoffed at that, rolling his eyes. Akira sensed some form of tension there but chose to ignore it. It wasn’t his business.

“But anyways, I wanted to talk about what happened earlier this morning. What was that?”

~~~

Hikaru entered the library, seeing an empty table by the back of the room. He sat down, pulling out some books and his homework. It wasn’t like he had to go home anytime soon, so might as well get some work done.

It wasn’t long before he heard someone pull the chair across from him back. He turned up to see Makoto Niijima, the student council president, sitting across for him.

“May I join you, Aozora-kun?”

Hikaru hummed, looking back down at his work. Makoto took his answer as an affirmative and started doing her own homework.

The silence continued for a while until Makoto cleared her throat. Hikaru looked up, seeing the president look at him with a question in her eyes.

“Is something wrong, Niijima-senpai?”

“No, it’s just… can I ask you something?” Hikaru put down his pencil, turning his attention fully to the conversation.

“What’s up?”

“What do you think about the new transfer student? He’s in your class, is he not?” Makoto seemed hesitant, as if she was about to do something awful. Hikaru chuckled internally. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve said she seemed cute.

“He’s fine. What about him?” Hikaru rested his chin on a fist. He grabbed his pencil in the other hand, idly spinning it.

“I believe you’ve heard the rumors about him, no?” Oh, was that what this was about? Was the president also scared of the transfer? Of course, Hikaru had nothing to fear.

It wasn’t like his father already knew about all of this and did a mandatory background check on all the students before Hikaru enrolled in Shujin. This also extended to any future enrolments into Shujin. That was part of the condition his father had mentioned, which Hikaru had to agree to.

_“If you’re going to a public school, then your safety needs to be confirmed.”_

It felt like a breach of privacy, but Hikaru could understand where his father was coming from. He was, after all, the heir to the largest media company, and by extension, the largest information house in Japan. It makes sense that some people might not like the amount of power that the Aozora family held, and taking out the heir would be the easiest solution.

Didn’t mean that he had to like it, though.

So, Hikaru already knew all about Akira, and how he has been cheated by the corrupt political system of Japan. It isn’t pretty, but it happens, and you can’t reach out to help everyone who needs a hand. He learned that the hard way.

_“W-What do you want?!!”_

_“My family back, you asshole!”_

Hikaru frowned at the memory. Makoto glanced at him oddly, a confused look on her face.

“He seems perfectly normal, as opposed to the rumors going around. Why do you ask?” Hikaru replied after a while, and Makoto seemed content.

“Well, it’s my duty as student council president to make sure that everything is fine, and that the students are safe. I’m just making sure that the rumors are just that. Rumors.”

“So you ask me, senpai? Just because I know things doesn’t mean I know everything, you know,” Hikaru teased, a grin forming on his face as he sees Makoto get embarrassed at that comment.

“Y-Yes, but I trust you to make an objective judgement,” Makoto stuttered out, taking a breath to calm herself.

Hikaru chuckled to himself and smiled at the girl. “I’ll make sure that if anything happens, you’ll be the first to know. How about that?”

“I guess that’s fair enough. Thank you, Aozora-kun.” Makoto got up, gathering her books and packing her stationery.

“Anytime, senpai.”

~~~

Hikaru was walking towards the exit, his limousine already waiting, when he ran into Shiho. They were already well acquainted, especially since Ann enjoyed inviting her friends together for crepes every once in a while.

Shiho always smiled and greeted Hikaru when she saw the boy. It was nice, Hikaru thought, to not be looked at with envious eyes, but with ones sparkling with joy. Whenever he talked to the girl, she just seems happy to be around him, not jealous of his status or anything.

But things seem to have changed, lately. Her eyes have dulled, and her motions seem sluggish. She rarely talks, preferring to stay silent more often than not.

Shiho began to have small bruises and injuries on her, hidden out of view. The normal person wouldn’t even notice, and she brushed away Ann’s worries easily. However, Hikaru wasn’t that easily swayed. He could see it in her eyes.

Her eyes hid a sort of sadness and pain, and Hikaru hated it. It reminded him of himself, all those years ago.

They ran into each other, but Hikaru reached out to grab her before she fell. As he touched her shoulder, she let out a small gasp and flinched. The brunet didn’t miss any of that.

“Are you okay, Shiho?”

The girl nodded, thanking Hikaru as he stabilized her. “Thank you, Hikaru, but I need to hurry to volleyball practice.”

Hikaru looked at her in the eye. It was the same, but what could he do? If she didn’t want to tell him, there wasn’t much he could do. He could only be there if she needed help. “Alright. I need to get going too. I’ll see you some other time, okay?”

“Yeah, thanks again, Hikaru.” She quickly rushed off, and Hikaru watched as she ran. He felt useless, watching his friends run off to get hurt because he didn’t know what he could do. What was the point of all this power, if he didn’t do anything with it?

Hikaru swallowed the feeling of guilt in his stomach and continued on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably going to post tomorrow, too. One chapter a day, whenever I remember to.


	3. Feelings of Guilt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your daily post. Thanks to the people who already have left kudos and all that, I love you all.

Something was off.

It felt like the abuse the volleyball team faced increased, if what he saw earlier during the teachers versus students match wasn’t an accident. The bruises became more obvious, and everyone was avoiding the team like a plague. Hikaru can feel the guilt pooling in his gut, but he didn’t dare do anything.

 _How useless can I be_ , Hikaru thought to himself, eyes watering. He had so much influence, and so much power. One word would be enough to stop all of Kamoshida’s madness. But he didn’t.

He was on the rooftop, looking out into the cluttered street outside the school as students left school. It was a calm in his hectic life, being able to just isolate himself in the mess that he was in.

The rooftop door opened, and Hikaru quickly swiped at his tears before turning around to address the people who came up. His eyes widened at seeing the new transfer student, as well as the supposed school delinquent. He then took a deep breath.

“I need to go. See you tomorrow, Kurusu.” Just as he walked past the duo, he felt someone grab his hand. He turned back to see Akira holding him back.

“Can we talk to you for a second, Aozora?” Hikaru gave a sad smile, all that he could make up right now.

“I’m sorry, but I really need to go. If it’s okay, I’ll try to find you tomorrow, alright?” Without hearing Akira’s response, the young heir left the rooftop, leaving him alone with Ryuji. The blond just stared at the back of the brunet, whereas Akira was a lot more concerned. He might not have known Hikaru for long, but he was the first person in the class to treat him like an actual human, and that deserved Akira’s respect.

“Uhh… Is he okay?” Ryuji asked, confusion in his voice. The blond delinquent has never seen Hikaru act like that at all, since the brunet was always stoic and uncaring. In fact, no one in the school had seen the Aozora heir so emotional.

~~~

“Drop me off at Shibuya Central Street, please.” The driver nodded and changed his destination. Hikaru laid down on the seat, with an arm resting on his forehead. He couldn’t think, and the mansion felt so suffocating. It was too silent, much like a hospital. It drove him crazy sometimes.

Once he arrived, he took off to Big Bang Burger. The food wasn’t the best, but the atmosphere wasn’t too loud, especially at this time of the evening, where things were starting to slow down. It was a nice, calming environment, an escape from reality. He was alone, and he let everything out.

Hikaru cried, letting the pressure he felt from his daily life spill out. His father’s expectations, Kamoshida’s presence, the guilt of not doing anything, everything. He buried his head in his arms and cried.

It seems like he wasn’t the only one who thought of this.

It wasn’t long before he heard someone come in, and two familiar voices. Ann and Akira. He overheard their conversation, about how Kamoshida was calling Ann, asking her to come with him. It felt like something was wrapping around his heart, squeezing it until he died. Ann continued, saying things about how Shiho’s position was being threatened, and Hikaru just cried even more. He could stop all of this, but due to his selfishness, he didn’t. What was wrong with him?

He didn’t even notice when someone sat down in front of him.

“Hey, you okay?” Akira asked, seeing the brunet right in front of him. Hikaru let out a deep breath, turning his face up to meet Akira’s dark eyes. A sad smile appeared on his face, like always.

Hikaru was a mess, Akira thought. He had tear tracks running down his face, reddened eyes, and wet pools on his sleeves. He obviously had been here for a while now.

“Hey, Kurusu, do you think I’m a bad person?” Hikaru asked. Akira shook his head.

“Really, after all the rumors you probably heard? About how I apparently act like a stuck-up bastard with all my money? About how I’m the one who apparently Kamoshida likes?” Hikaru let out a scoff after that last one.

Akira shrugged. “Well, do I apparently do drugs and beat up kids who look at me wrong, just because I have a criminal record?” Hikaru laughed at that.

“Touché. But I can’t help but feel that this is all my fault, you know?”

Akira raised an eyebrow. “What is?”

“This problem with Kamoshida. It’s all because of me. I could be the one to stop him, but I’m scared. I’m so fucking scared. With just one word, I could have him removed from the school and stop all this nonsense. But I didn’t, because I’m a fucking idiot who can’t get over these issues I have. Because I’m selfish and like coming here, to this school, with all of you. So I’ll ask you again. Does that make me a bad person?” Hikaru lowered his head once again, letting out a sad chuckle. He knew what anyone would say about his situation. He’s just a greedy kid who wants everything to go his way.

“No.” The brunet’s head snapped up, eyes wide. Akira’s eyes were soft, caring.

“No, you’re not. Have I told you that you were the first person in Shujin to treat me like a normal person? Even when I came with my guardian to sign up, all I got were stares and whispers. When I walked past you, though, you were the first to smile at me. You have no idea how happy that made me feel. Throughout the few days I’ve known you, you’ve shown me nothing but kindness, no matter what the rumors say. I won’t let one issue affect my judgement of you. I trust you. I don’t know your situation or background, but I know that no matter what you do or who you become, you’re the first friend I made here at Shujin, and I won’t trade that for anything else.”

Hikaru laughed. It was a soft, genuine laugh, that made Akira grin as well. He felt that Hikaru looked much better like this, not sulking and wallowing in self-hate. He didn’t know why Hikaru was like this, or what circumstances led to this, but he was happy that the boy seemed better.

“You know, you’re the second person to call me that.”

“What, a friend?”

“Yeah. The only other person was Ann, and that’s probably because we did it out of mutual respect and relief of not having to face rumors with each other, if anything. Usually people just get close to me because of the prestige that comes with being around an Aozora, or just because of my wealth. Friendship becomes superficial, at some point. You have no idea how glad I am,” Hikaru grinned, resting his head on one hand, the other fingers drumming the marble table.

“That’s sad, and sadly, relatable. After I got the criminal record, all my friends just left me, even my parents. I felt like all the relationships I made were just fake, just for the sake of themselves.” Akira leaned his head in his chair, taking a deep breath.

“Oh yeah, do you want me to tell you who did it?” Akira turned back towards Hikaru, eyes widened. “What do you mean by that?”

“If I tried hard enough, I could honestly find out everything about your entire case, such as who did it, who was the woman, and even who spread it here in Shujin.” So this was the power of an Aozora. Akira was taken aback. Was it just that simple? One search, and that’s it?

“Wait, you know about what happened?” Hikaru nodded, an apologetic look on his face.

“Part of the condition of my father approving to come to this school was to do a background check on all students present, current and future. That way, my safety would be confirmed. When he heard a student with a criminal record was coming, do you think he’ll just sit idly?” Hikaru shrugged, a look of guilt on his face. “I personally feel that it’s a bit of an invasion of privacy, but he set his terms.”

“Your father sounds strict, but he’s doing it for you,” Akira mentioned, to which Hikaru nodded.

“Still doesn’t change the fact that it’s invading privacy.”

Hikaru stared off at the wall. “He wasn’t this strict before my mother passed, but I understand why he’s doing it. It’d make sense for him to make sure his heir is able to take over the company, so I don’t blame him, even for the limo every day to and from school.”

Akira then noticed the sun, or rather, the lack of it. It was already dark, streetlights turned on. He had better get going, or he might get in trouble with Sojiro. Hikaru seemed to notice as well, as he grabbed his school bag and got up.

“Well, I need to go, and I believe you do, too. Thanks, by the way. For helping me out there.” A genuine smile crawled onto Hikaru’s face, one that made Akira smile in return. “No problem, Aozora.”

As they parted ways, Hikaru added on one last thing. “Oh, you can call me Hikaru, by the way. I think, by this point, you’ve seen me cry my ass out. I’m comfortable enough to drop the formalities.”

“Then same here, Hikaru.”

~~~

The silence of his room allowed Hikaru’s mind to wander. He thought about what he just experienced, as well as his newfound friend. The heir let out a dumb grin at that. A _friend_ , huh. It felt stupid, letting something as trivial as this make his heart leap and turn. However, giving his inexperience and past trauma surrounding friendships, it made sense.

_“You think just because you’re rich, you can act like a stuck-up brat?”_

_It was during the last year of elementary school, right after his mother had passed away. He was sent to a normal school, much like everyone. Here, however, was when Hikaru truly learnt about the power of the Aozora, and the consequences that come with it._

_“It’s the Aozora kid. People say he’s filthy rich, and he’s trying to buy his way through classes.”_

_“Really?”_

_Hikaru couldn’t take it anymore. It was just a month since school started, and already everything’s going terribly. His classmates hate him, his teachers even more so. All of them saw him as just the rich and powerful kid, especially after the rival newspapers published articles regarding his mother’s death. It seemed like everyone decided that was the time to strike. His father thought he would be fine. It’s elementary school, after all. Who would think elementary school students were a threat?_

_No one dared to physically hurt him, but their words were a knife to his heart. Rumors of him bribing teachers, blackmailing students to be friends, everything that you can think of. It was bad, but bearable. There was a silver lining to all of this._

_At least he had a friend through all of it. Or so he thought._

_He had a good friend named Naoki. Unlike him, Naoki was a lot more outspoken, and had been good friends since they started school together. The boy would constantly come and talk to Hikaru, spend lunch together, even play together during recess. He wasn’t rich like Hikaru, since his father had left him once Naoki was born._

_After his mother’s death, Hikaru had gone silent in class, not taking to anyone, even when Naoki tried to approach him. The boy seemed troubled, but Hikaru’s mental state wasn’t fit enough to try to help others. It just escalated until one day, where Naoki burst into class, angry tears on his face._

_“You!” Hikaru looked up slowly at the accusation, eyes still dull._

_“It was you, all this time! You were the one who ruined everything!” It turned out that Naoki’s father was an employee at his father’s. Naoki’s father was trying to access the Aozora Archives. The Archives was the highest guarded secret of the Aozoras, and held all the information and secrets gathered by the Aozoras through generations. It was a high offense, and thus easily punishable. It was also found that the man had embezzled funds, leaving the section he was in low in funds and having to demand a budget raise. The court case wasn’t hard. Breach of privacy, hacking, embezzlement. Jail time, easily. Because of that, Naoki was left fatherless._

_“I-” Hikaru tried to say, but the other boy punched him, sending him onto the floor. The other boy was crying fully, causing a commotion as more students gathered around. “I don’t care about what you think, I just want my family back!” Hikaru tried to get up._

_“I can’t-” Naoki hit him again, causing him to fall back down. At this point, the crowd around them was large enough that teachers have definitely noticed, but no one did anything. “Give me my family back, you asshole!” The boy continued to punch him, leaving Hikaru on the floor to take all the hits. He felt tears gather in his eyes, iron on his tongue, something in his body snap. Eventually someone stopped him, but the damage was already done._

_Something in Hikaru changed that day. He realized that all this time, did nothing of their friendship mean anything to the other boy? Was it worth this little? Did one matter just shatter their entire friendship that day? He didn’t know anymore. Looking back, it seemed absolutely ridiculous for him to lose hope that day. It was understandable where Naoki came from, but Hikaru was young, and young minds learned quickly. Clearly, making friends was bad for him._

_By the evening of that day, Kazuyoshi Aozora had the school sued. The court case was a blur for Hikaru, since he knew it would result in the school shutting down. Hikaru felt detached from reality as the prosecutor asked him questions about what happened. It wasn’t as if anything mattered anymore. The one thing keeping him tied to the school was gone, and so he just stopped caring._

_He never saw Naoki ever again._

_Since that day, Hikaru gave up on his dream. He learned the true power of money and fame, and how it easily turns people. A person like him couldn’t make friends. He’ll only have himself in this cutthroat world._

Hikaru sighed at himself. Would his bond with Akira turn out the same? He hoped not, but who’s to say? He was scared, but he was willing to risk it. He missed having someone to talk to, not worrying about issues such as rumors or any prejudice between each other.

“I guess this will be a gamble,” Hikaru muttered, staring at his ceiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment or something if you want to. I read all of them, even if I don't reply. It makes me happy inside. Next chapter comes tomorrow.


	4. Gathering Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna add a trigger warning for Shiho's attempt, and what happens after. 
> 
> TW: Suicide attempt, panic attack

Hikaru had that strange dream again.

He was back in that prison room clad in velvet, but there were different people in it now. Instead of the man and woman clad in velvet, there seemed to be two girls, dressed in similar velvet blue-colored warden outfits. One of them had a braid and a clipboard, whereas the other had a baton and had her hair up in two buns. The man with the long nose was still there, but something felt off.

“How is the rehabilitation of the Trickster progressing, Justine?” The man’s voice was entirely different. In the dream before, the man’s voice a lot higher; whereas in this, his voice was as deep as the ocean. What happened?

“He is proceeding as expected, Master. He has learned how to utilize the Metaverse Navigator and is forming strong bonds with his Confidants. However, there is something that bothers me…” The girl with a braid turned, flipping through her clipboard. “You mentioned that all close individuals of the Trickster will represent a certain Arcana and act as a Confidant, yes, Master?”

“That is correct, Justine. Is there an issue?” Justine turned her clipboard, an image of Hikaru appearing.

“This person… he doesn’t seem to have an Arcana but has multiple connections to our Trickster and his allies. Is this a cause of concern, Master?” The man frowned, leaning his head on his hands. He closed his eyes to think, leaving the two girls to look at each other.

“For now, ignore the anomaly. There is nothing we can do with him yet, so we should let it proceed as planned. However, we should closely monitor the Trickster and his relationship with this anomaly.” The girls nodded, turning back towards the one open cell in the room. The man smiled. “Ah, welcome back to the Velvet Room, Trickster.”

Suddenly, as if he felt Hikaru’s presence, the man quickly turned in his direction, ending the dream there. Hikaru eyes snapped open, feeling the cool air conditioning contrast against his flushed skin. Again, he was left with questions and no answers. He thought back to the first dream he had in this Velvet Room, as the man had called it.

Was this the ‘fake’ the man mentioned before? The man had mentioned that he was going to be gone, did he not? So, this was the fake that had replaced him? Hikaru couldn’t think. The sun was beginning to rise, and that meant that he had to get ready for school. He’ll just focus on it later.

~~~

“Is something wrong, Igor?” Akira had said, looking strangely at the master of the Velvet Room.

“No, Trickster. It just seems as if someone was watching me. Might it be my imagination, I wonder?”

~~~

Tragedy had struck. Hikaru felt shaken to his core. He fucked up, big time. The guilt that he had felt before, reassured by Akira, came back all in an instant. The guilt curled around his throat, threatening to strangle him. Breathing was hard, and the crowd definitely didn’t help.

Shiho jumped off the roof.

Hikaru couldn’t take it. He ran, hiding in one of the empty janitor’s rooms. He had to take a breath, and it wasn’t helping that he was trembling so much. His mind kept repeating the same thing over and over again, and Hikaru felt the terror envelop his whole being.

_yourfaultyourfaultyourfaultyourfault-_

Hikaru leaned against the door and slid to the floor. He was curled up, tightly holding his knees to his chest. Chaos was happening outside. People were screaming, teachers trying to control everything but only adding to the chaos. Hikaru felt everything tune out as he can only see what he saw a few moments ago.

Everything felt so wrong. _He_ felt so wrong. What was wrong with him? His worst nightmares had become real, and now no one will stay by his side. Everyone will hate him.

Hikaru’s breathing was ragged and rushed, hands trembling. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t move. Everything was shaking. He couldn’t focus on anything.

No, deep breaths. Calm down. Relax.

He didn’t know how long he stayed in the room, but when he looked up, there were no more noises at all. He had to get out, it was starting to get claustrophobic.

Hikaru’s phone buzzed, and he then realized that everyone was worried about him. He had unread messages from Ann and Akira, as well as his father. He had 2 missed calls from Akira, and 1 from his father. He let out a shaky breath.

**_AK:_ ** _Are you okay? I saw you ran off earlier._

**_AK:_ ** _If you need someone to talk to, I’m always free if you need it._

**_AK:_ ** _I’ll see you tomorrow, then. You’re not to blame here, Hikaru. It was Kamoshida._

How did the black-haired boy know exactly what was haunting him? Hikaru let out a soft laugh to himself. He did spill everything yesterday, so it made sense. He slowly wandered down the empty hallways as he wrote a response, leaving the school compound.

 ** _HA:_** _Sorry about the late reply, something just kept me occupied. I…I’ll see you tomorrow, Akira. I’m fine, no need to worry about me._

The reply was instantaneous.

**_AK:_ ** _If you say so. I’ll trust you to take care of yourself. Just know that me and Ann will always be here to help you, if you need it, okay?_

**_HA:_ ** _Yeah, thanks. I’ll tell you guys if I need help._

Switching over to Ann’s contact, the girl seemed a bit more frantic and panicked about the heir.

**_AT:_ ** _Hikaru, are you ok?! Akira told me you rushed off earlier, after… what happened._

**_AT:_ ** _Shiho’s fine… well, as fine as you can be. She’s in a coma, but doctors are positive that she will recover soon enough._

**_AT:_ ** _On the other hand, Kamoshida, that bastard… I’ll get revenge soon enough._

**_AT:_ ** _But are you okay? You do know that what happened isn’t your fault, right?_

**_HA:_ ** _Yeah, I’m fine. Glad to see that Shiho’s ok for now. Sorry about the late reply, but I was caught up in something._

**_AT:_ ** _Glad to see that you’re fine, too. Just… know that it’s not your fault, alright? I know you tend to blame yourself for things like this, but what happened isn’t your fault, okay?_

**_HA:_ ** _Yeah. Thanks, and sorry._

**_AT:_ ** _Stop that, you have nothing to be sorry about. You’re in a position where you’re stuck too, okay? Nothing about this is your fault. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? I’m feeling really tired after all of that._

**_HA:_ ** _If you say so. I’ll see you, Ann._

~~~

“Do you know what happened to Hikaru, Ann?”

It was after their first adventure into the Metaverse, followed by Ann’s Awakening. They gathered in a diner in Shibuya, talking about everything and anything. Akira and Ryuji were watching Ann eat, seeing as they weren’t hungry anyway.

“I didn’t know you were close to him, Akira. But I suppose if anyone could befriend Hikaru, it would be you,” Ann muttered offhandedly, slicing a small bite of cake.

“I don’t really know him well, so I can’t judge, but he feels kinda arrogant? That’s the impression I’m getting,” Ryuji added, which Ann chuckled at. 

“I can’t blame you for that. That’s what I thought too, but then he proved me wrong.”

“I was alone in class with no friends during first year, as Shiho was in a different class. Almost all the boys in our class were drooling at me, and I remember seeing a brown-haired boy who was just sitting to the side, not really paying attention to the whole fiasco. I asked if I could sit beside him, and he just glanced at me, hummed, and went back to daydreaming.”

“I later learned that that guy’s one of the most influential people in the entire country. It didn’t strike me at first, you know. He looked just like any of us. As time passed, I realized that he didn’t act like what everyone said. There were rumors of him being an absolute snob, but Hikaru was never like that.”

“He is one of the nicest, and somehow shyest people I knew. You would think that he’s outspoken and all that, since his family works for the press, but he’s so introverted! All the things you hear, almost none of them is true. Trust me, he’s not who you think he is.” Ann glanced at Ryuji after that last statement, who turned away.

“I don’t blame you for judging him. He is hard to approach, and his shyness and introversion make it seem like he’s being standoffish, but he isn’t. I value him as one of the closest friends I have.” Akira smiled at Ann’s words, stroking Morgana who was hiding in his bag.

“Yeah. He didn’t judge me for my criminal record, even if he knew about it. He was technically the first one I met, sorry Ryuji,” the blond shrugging at that, “who didn’t judge me before you guys. I suppose it’s because he knew what happened, but even still.”

Ryuji sighed, taking a sip of soda. “I guess you guys would know him the best. I’ll trust your judgement, since I don’t think I’m unbiased enough to decide myself. I never had a good impression of people like him, and I don’t blame him if he doesn’t like me. Maybe someday I’ll talk to him. He’s important to the two of you, after all.”

“Well, that was mature of you. How out of character,” Morgana sassily remarked, resulting in an outburst from Ryuji, and chuckles all around the table.

Ann was thankful for the trio in front of her, at least for taking her mind off of Shiho and Kamoshida right now. She didn’t want to think about what happened, even now that she knew Shiho will slowly recover. She had a target now, and she knows she’ll get her revenge soon enough.

~~~

“Where were you?”

Hikaru knew that he had to face his father eventually. He sighed silently, bowing to the man in front of him.

“I’m sorry, father, but something occurred at school, and I lost track of time.” His father handed him a sheet of paper. On it was what happened at school, in full detail.

“Damn right something happened. You know what I’m going to say, aren’t you, Hikaru?” His father looked at him, eyes gentle yet stern at the same time.

“Look, Dad, I’m grateful for you looking out for me, but trust me when I say that I’m fine. Okay?” Hikaru stared into his father’s eyes, hoping that his father gets the message he’s trying to say.

After a silent moment, Kazuyoshi Aozora sighed. “Fine. I’ll let this go. But Hikaru, remember, you’re the number one priority in my mind. If anything happens to you while you’re at school, I’m sorry, but I will have you home immediately. Okay?” Hikaru smiled at his father.

“It’s all I’m going to get, isn’t it?”

His father nodded, and Hikaru sighed. “Well, I don’t have a choice, now do I? Regardless, know that I do want to listen to you, but I need to experience the world, father. Keeping me here forever won’t teach me how to run the company, you know.”

“I know, but everything feels like it’s going past too fast, you know? I just worry.” This was a rare side of his father that he didn’t usually get to see. Hikaru guessed that the news gave his father a reality check.

“I know, Dad. I’ll be fine, okay?” His father nodded, and Hikaru exited. The man sighed, thinking back to simpler times.

_“Hikaru, don’t wander too far off! Your father and I need to set up the picnic!”_

_“Okay Mama!”_

_~~~_

Kazuyoshi looked at the picture frame on his desk. In it was a happy family of three, taken at a picnic by the river. The woman had long blond hair, blue eyes, and wore a blue sweater with a black knee-length skirt. “I sometimes wonder if this is what you would've done, my love."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I personally have never suffered a panic attack, so I don't know if I'm qualified to write about it, but I did it anyway. I'm just going off on what I know, and how I think Hikaru would handle it. If any of you want to correct me, please go ahead. I don't want to offend anyone.
> 
> Leave a comment if you're comfortable with it!


	5. A Chance Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter leads into the exposition chapter. Next chapter's going to be mainly info dump for my interpretation of the world of Persona.

When Hikaru got to school the next day, a few things happened.

  * Akira and Ann were worried about him, which made sense. He did leave them without much reassurance. It was nice to see that Ann felt better from yesterday.



  * The two of them were close? Hikaru thought that Ann didn’t have the best impression of Akira, but it’s understandable. He did see the two of them together the day before at the café, so it made sense.



  * Ryuji didn’t hate him. When Hikaru ran into him on the hallway, he looked at him with what looked like regret in his eyes. Hikaru was thankful, but what brought this on? Ryuji never liked him, and Hikaru couldn’t do anything about it, so what changed?



Around the school, Hikaru also noticed a few things. Mainly, Kamoshida’s aggression towards Mishima, Ryuji, and Akira. That, and the cat in Akira’s bag.

~~~

“Akira, is that a _cat_ in your desk?!” Hikaru whisper yelled, glancing at Mr. Ushimaru uneasily. Akira just nodded.

The cat looked over at Hikaru, letting out a tiny meow. Hikaru felt like he was being judged. They maintained awkward eye contact before Hikaru shrugged.

“You know what, I’ve seen worse. Cool cat, by the way.” Hikaru leaned back; hearing Mr. Ushimaru call his name. He stood up and answered whatever the man asked him with ease, even though he wasn’t paying attention.

When he sat back down, he noticed something in his desk.

“Oh well hi there, decided to ditch Akira?” Hikaru stroked the cat, which purred at his touch. He opened his packed lunch, a tuna sandwich, and pulled out a small piece of tuna. How did no one notice at all, Hikaru wasn’t going to question it.

The cat snatched the piece of fish, causing Hikaru to let out a small chuckle. He turned up to see Akira stare at him with an unimpressed look. “Stop seducing my cat, Hikaru.”

“I can’t help it, he’s adorable. What’s his name?” The cat let out a soft hiss at that.

“His name’s Morgana, or Mona for short. The school allowed him, saying it was good for me to keep a _therapy pet_ or something like that. Like I need it, but I’m not complaining. I get to bring a cat to school.” Morgana let out a meow, slinking around Hikaru’s desk and back into Akira’s.

“Huh. Well, what do you know?” Hikaru shrugged, turning his attention back towards the class, but not really focusing. He was busy thinking about cats and how adorable they were.

~~~

It seemed as if the school didn’t take the fact that Shiho jumped off the roof just yesterday to heart. It seemed like the teachers wanted to just brush that fact under the rug, and no students dared to step out of line.

Well, except the three students right in front of him.

Akira asked Hikaru to join him for lunch and led him to the rooftop. Ryuji and Ann joined soon, and then they saw Kamoshida. Immediately, the two boys stood between Ann and the coach, the message they are sending clear enough.

Akira, Ryuji, and Ann all sneered at Kamoshida as he walked past, making their disgust clear. The teacher was the same, not hiding his distaste for the three of them. Hikaru felt in the way, standing towards the back. Kamoshida’s eyes glanced over him, and he scoffed. Hikaru’s breath quickened, his heart pumping against his ribs.

Hikaru refused to look at Kamoshida. It felt like he was the cause of his problems and being just close to him is enough to cause anxiety to bubble up in Hikaru’s chest. He already felt guilty enough because of what happened to Shiho, and just looking at the man in front of him is reminding him of all the others he had hurt. All of which Hikaru could have saved.

Hikaru felt his world start to close in, and everything began to shake. Oh no, not now-

A snap in front of him snapped him out of it. “Hey, Hikaru,” he looked up to see Ann’s gentle smile on him, “remember what I said? Not your fault. You’re fine, okay? Calm down.” Hikaru took a few deep breaths, seeing the worried glances that Ryuji and Akira were sending him. He slowed his breathing, calming his heart rate.

“Yeah, thanks.” Hikaru took a deep breath, righting himself. “I’m fine, sorry about that.”

“Are you sure?” Akira seemed very concerned, turning around to face the heir.

Hikaru nodded, walking ahead of the group to prove he’s fine. Akira and Ryuji seemed uneasy, but Ann easily followed Hikaru’s stride, leaving the two boys no choice but to follow them.

~~~

“So… what was that, exactly?” Ryuji decided to break the silence. The group was quietly eating, with Hikaru occasionally pulling out a small piece of tuna to feed Morgana. The cat purred, leaning against Hikaru’s leg as he sat on one of the desks.

“Hmm?” Hikaru hummed, stroking Morgana’s head.

“You were having a panic attack, were you not?” Akira asked, and Hikaru sighed, picking Morgana up into his lap. The cat didn’t resist, allowing himself to slink into Hikaru’s lap. The others seen shocked by this, especially Akira.

“Yeah. After the incident with Shiho, I don’t know why, every time I see Kamoshida I feel like I’m gonna puke. I just start hyperventilating, and my heart feels like it’s going to explode. He just feels untouchable, even for me. I feel like I can’t stop him, even with all the status I have. I feel so guilty, you know? I could just remove him from this school, but I’m selfish and want to hold on to my dreams. That’s why I don’t mind if you all hate me, especially you, Sakamoto. It won’t be the first time.” Hikaru kept his eyes on the cat, not daring to look at any of the people in front of him. The cat stared at him with its blue eyes, and let out a soft, sad meow, as if comforting him.

There was another silence before someone spoke up. “Didn’t we tell you you’re not to blame? You didn’t do anything, okay? It doesn’t seem like it but trust me when I say I still view as a close friend. You don’t have to worry about what’s going on. We’ll handle it, okay?” Ann was gentle in her approach, slowly moving forward until she was standing right in front of him.

“If it wasn’t for you, a lot of things would have happened to me. You don’t know this, but you saved me countless times. Whether it be a phone call, or just being around me. He’s afraid of you, Hikaru, and that’s kept me safe all this while,” Ann spoke gently, resting a hand on Hikaru’s shoulder. He glanced up, seeing Ann smile at him.

“I don’t know your circumstances, but it doesn’t matter. You’re a victim too, and if all these idiots trust you, I do too. You can trust me. Okay, Hikaru?” Hikaru looked over to the blond, seeing his grin. The use of his first name relieved Hikaru, as it showed that Sakamoto, no, Ryuji trusted him with the same.

“You’ve been there for me already, and it’s just been a few days since I came to Shujin. I’ll gladly take your side over that rat bastard Kamoshida.” Akira flashed him a smirk, and Hikaru laughed. This caught the trio off guard, all three of them looking at each other, before joining in soon enough. The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

“I can’t thank you all enough, clearly.” Hikaru got up, picking up Morgana and passing him to Akira.

Akira grinned. “Even the cat?”

“ _Especially_ the cat. I’ve known him for half a day, and I would kill for him.”

“Meow!”

~~~

The next week passed peacefully. Nothing seemed to have changed. The Shiho talk soon began to die off, but still, no one dared to talk about it around Kamoshida. Classes were boring, Morgana was adorable, Kawakami was tired, the usual.

It was during one of those days that something special occurred.

It started as a small sign that anyone played off. A blue butterfly landed on his head one day during lunch, which drew chuckles out of the entire group. Hikaru was puzzled but shrugged it off.

The next day, he found that the key he had was glowing. He was shocked, sure, seeing as that key came out of nowhere when he got it, and now it was glowing. It was still by his bedside, where he placed it after that dream more than a week ago. Again, he just ignored it, as it wasn’t really doing anything. He was curious, but it wasn’t hurting him, or he thinks.

It all came together when he came home one day and saw the man clad in velvet from his dream in his bedroom, sitting on his bed.

His first reaction was, obviously, to scream. When a butler rushed in, he looked puzzled, before looking over to the young heir. “Is something wrong, Young Master?”

“Do you not see that?!” Hikaru stammered out, pointing towards the man. The man just gave him a grin, shaking his head. The butler looked at where Hikaru was pointing, and back to the heir. “Uh, is there something there?”

Hikaru, calming down after seeing the man was not here to attack him, or to rob him, took a deep breath. “Maybe I’m seeing things. I’m sorry.”

The butler patted him on the shoulder. “No worries, Young Master. However, do make sure that you are in good health. School can get tiring, so remember to occasionally take breaks, okay?”

“Yeah, thanks.” With that, the butler left, leaving Hikaru and the man alone. He turned to face the man, who has stood up. The man bowed. “My name is Theodore, sir, and I am here to ask for your assistance, as informed previously.”

“Hold up, so that dream was real?” It wasn’t the weirdest thing out there. He has read about some dreams that act as a form of premonition for people, but those were rarely true, and mostly hoaxes in trying to scam people to believe they could see the future. Could he see the future? What the heck?

“Yes. What you saw in that dream was what we call home; the Velvet Room. I act as an attendant to the Velvet Room, as do my sisters. The Velvet Room exists between dream and reality, in a space between two realms.” Theodore then looked over to his nightstand, where the key was. “The key to the Velvet Room is given to those who are invited. Most guests are what we refer to Wild Cards. They have the ability to utilize multiple Personas and draw strength from Social Links with other individuals.”

“Wait, slow down. Personas? Social Links? Wild Cards? What do you mean?” Theodore glanced around and furrowed his eyebrows. “All will be explained, but I need you to come with me, if possible. We must avoid any eavesdroppers in our conversation. Do not worry, as you will not be harmed in any way, so long as I am with you.” With a flick of his hand, a door appeared. Theodore opened the door and stood to the side, gesturing for Hikaru to enter. Hikaru was conflicted, but his curiosity was burning within him. It was this curiosity that drove the Aozora family forward, and was a trait found in every leader of the family.

Hikaru entered the door and felt his head spin. His eyes somehow slipped shut, and when he opened them again, he was in the place he saw in his dream. Or, at least, similar to it. It was the prison, but there were elements changed. The man with the long nose wasn’t sitting at the desk, but the lady he saw was standing by the desk, staring straight at him. Theodore was beside her, a book in his hand.

The door closed behind Hikaru, shimmering into thin air. A piano began to play from a corner of the room, creating a mysterious yet calming atmosphere. It was accompanied by a voice that shook Hikaru to his soul, causing his inner emotions to well up inside him. He shivered, turning back towards the center. The velvet of the room and the outfits of the two attendants contrasted greatly with the brown of the desk, and the pale complexion of the attendants.

The two bowed at the same time, matching smiles on their faces.

“Welcome to the Velvet Room.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be perfectly honest with you, I'm not sure how to portray the attendants, since I never actually played P3. I'll just go based on what I know.


	6. The Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we get into this, I should preface this by saying I never played P1-4, or P4A. I've seen playthroughs and the supposed cruddy anime and movies for 3 and 4, but I have no idea about P1 and P2, as well as what happens in P4A. This is just what I believe links all of them together. I hope this lines up with canon, or at least is close enough.

“My name is Elizabeth, pleased to make your acquaintance, Young Master Hikaru.” The lady introduced herself and directed them towards a couch to the side of the room.

Hikaru couldn’t keep his eyes off of the room itself. It just felt… magical. Nothing about this room felt normal, even the smallest corners of the room. He moved over to the couch and sat down. It felt like a couch, but not really there? It was very dreamlike. Then again, he just followed some stranger through a random door in his bedroom. How much of this is real, anyway?

“I suppose you have many questions, and it will be answered in due time. For now, we can give the information we have, and where to start.”

“So, let us begin. I suppose we shall start simple. If I say Persona, what immediately comes to mind?” Elizabeth started with a chipper tone, taking the seat across from him.

Hikaru racked his brain, trying to think back to the few psychology books taught him. “Well, a fake personality, or some kind of image of yourself, right? That’s what Carl Jung taught me.”

“Well, that is somewhat correct. A Persona is the image of one’s inner self incarnate. These Personas are originally in the form of Shadows, which come from the Sea of Souls.” Hikaru listened closely as the siblings began explaining.

“The Persona will allow you to be more aware of yourself, of all your flaws and strengths. The Persona will also allow you to battle within the Sea of Souls, or have minor interactions with it, depending on your level of connection with your Persona.”

“The Sea of Souls, the origin of all Personas, or Shadows, is split into fragments, each interacting with the human world in different ways. Some take the form of an extra hour at night, which lead to the belief of the Thirteenth Hour, where demons spawn and hell breaks loose. Some might take the form of an alternate dimension with portals accessible from the human realm, which would allow for possible persons lost in the Sea of Souls.”

Theodore took over at that. “One major example in recent history is the Inaba Serial Murders, where people got lost and killed within the Sea of Souls.”

Elizabeth glared at her brother. “Don’t scare him. The Sea of Souls is mostly harmless and will only confuse you without a guide. It is easy to get lost in a Sea, after all.”

Hikaru was trying to absorb all of this information. An alternate plane, where Personas and Shadows are made? “But how does that tie back to this place, and what you need me to do?”

Elizabeth waved her hands, forming a teacup in her hands and a tea set on the table between them. “We’ll get there. We haven’t explained Shadows yet, have we? Shadows are the dark side of people, you could say. Their inner repressed selves that they hide, not wanting to show it to the world. They are the distorted desires within an individual, which is mainly caused by one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Everyone will have a Shadow and coming to terms that your Shadow is you will transform your Shadow into your Persona.”

“Your Shadow, however, want your physical body, and will do its best to make you refuse its existence, and therefore make it a separate entity. When Shadows get strong, that is, when your desires are extremely distorted, it is possible that you can create a Palace.”

“A Palace represents the physical location you are in through your distorted desires. Palaces are hard to clear, as in order to get rid of the Palace, you would have to remove its Treasure. The Treasure acts as the core of the formation of the Palace, and without it, the Palace will naturally collapse. However, the Palace ruler will be strong, as they are able to draw weaker Shadows from the Sea of Souls into the Palace to serve them.”

“Now, let us explain about this room.” Elizabeth got up, moving over to the empty desk in the middle of the room.

“This room is owned by our Master, Master Igor. I believe you have seen him before, in the dream you had. He had quite the large nose, if I do say so myself!” Elizabeth laughed at her own joke. Theodore sighed.

“As said before, this room lies between two realms: the Sea of Souls and the human realm. It is the bridge between dream and reality, mind and matter. Our Master controls this room, and welcomes guests depending on the situation of the world. If there is a crisis or disturbance within the Sea of Souls, effects of those will bleed into the real world, and Master Igor will employ the help of a group of humans to solve the issue.”

Hikaru interrupted at that. “Wait, why can’t he do anything himself? If he is able to control this room, then isn’t he powerful enough to do something like stop the threat?”

“He could, but our Master was restricted within the Velvet Room as his territory by higher powers and can only assert his abilities through this room. Therefore, we have to rely on outside influences who are able to change the world.” Theodore conjured a cup for Hikaru, gesturing towards it. “Tea?”

Hikaru nodded, taking a sip. “So, am I one of these guests?”

“Technically, no. The help will come in the form of the Wild Card, the leader of the group of humans. The Wild Card is an individual with the ability to utilise multiple Personas and have to strengthen these Personas and their abilities through Social Links. Social Links are bonds formed between the Wild Card and other individuals in their life and will help the Wild Card through tough issues. They do this by giving the Wild Card a source of strength to draw upon, especially when summoning Personas from the Sea of Souls. The Social Links usually represent a certain Arcana of Tarot and align with the meaning of their Tarot.”

Hikaru scratched his head in confusion. “So, where do I fit in?” Elizabeth smiled, opening the book within her hands. An image formed of the Velvet Room, but the one he saw in his dreams.

“Currently, a malicious god plans to manipulate the upcoming Wild Card into doing his bidding. This Wild Card, however, is different from others, as he is a Trickster.”

Theodore nodded, opening his own book, revealing an image of Akira. Hikaru gasped, seeing his friend. He was the chosen one? “A Trickster is different from a Wild Card as Tricksters are usually acting on larger scales than Wild Cards. Tricksters have a larger role in societal change, whereas Wild Cards will only change small parts of the world or prevent minor disasters. For example, Wild Cards could cause change in towns at most, whereas Tricksters could change the country, or even the world. Tricksters also rely on Confidants as opposed to Social Links, which are similar.”

“So, Akira is a Trickster?” Hikaru asked, regaining his composure. Elizabeth nodded.

“Yes. Akira Kurusu is the next Trickster, appearing to defeat the malicious god Yaldabaoth. However, Yaldabaoth’s influence is strong, and can break into the Velvet Room. He has sealed our Master away and has split one of the attendants. Our Master was prepared, however, and assigned us the task of planning his rescue. That is where we require your assistance, Hikaru Aozora.”

Theodore revealed their plans. “You have close relations with the Trickster and his current Confidants, and it would be simple for you to be placed to supervise the Trickster. Should you choose to help, you would be placed into the Metaverse, the current fragment of the Sea of Souls. There, you will follow the Trickster in his path, but keeping watch for any strange anomalies. The key you were given will serve to access this room, where you can tell us anything strange you have found. We will need your help at the end of this, when Yaldabaoth is revealed to the Trickster. If all goes well, the Trickster will reveal Yaldabaoth, and all we need is you present to assist us in freeing our Master.”

Hikaru sat there for a second, letting himself think. The two attendants allowed him to think, which he was thankful for. He was still in shock from what he had learned. Personas? Shadows? Palaces? It sounded like a fairy tale. However, he couldn’t deny that what he had seen so far was indeed proof of magic, so who’s to say what he is seeing is false? The terminology they were using was also confusing.

So, to sum this up, they wanted him to help Akira do whatever this Trickster thing entitled, and to help them regain control of the Velvet Room. That was all, and it seemed simple, but why does it feel like this is a lot complicated that what it seems?

“What’s in it for me?” The two attendants looked at each other and shrugged.

“Well, you might not be aware, but the potential of rebellion within you is very strong. It is almost confirmed that you will soon awaken to your Persona if you come into contact with the Metaverse. This might also seem pretentious to say, but you will be helping maintain the balance between two realms of reality. Should Yaldabaoth be allowed to rule, it is without a doubt that your reality and the Metaverse will fuse, causing the world to possibly shatter and all humans to be erased. With the help of our Master, there might also be another benefit that we may provide to you as well, should you accept.”

Theodore gave a gentle smile. “In the end, the choice is yours, Hikaru. We cannot force you to do anything against your will, as you are an outsider to this. It will also be dangerous in the Sea of Souls, especially in Palaces where you are susceptible to harm. But we have to ask of you, will you help us?”

Hikaru was torn. The curiosity inside of him wanted to accept, wanted to take it and see where it led him. It felt so mystical, what Theodore and Elizabeth had told him, but they didn’t seem to be lying. Hikaru yearned to learn the truth, of what this world was, as well as this other world.

But, as Theodore had mentioned, it was risky. Knowledge always came with a price, somehow. Was Hikaru really ready to risk everything he had, even his life?

He already knew the answer in his heart.

The obvious response, and the most logical one, would be to decline. He didn’t know what the heck he was getting into, and there was no way for him to be ensured his safety. With how things were, he had other priorities that mattered right now. That, and playing with higher powers was always a death wish from what he knew.

But the other side of the argument was so much more compelling.

It gave him a sense of responsibility like no other. It was like a fantasy story: a person given the choice to save a town that he’d never heard of. As a moral person, the obvious choice was to do whatever he could to help. To add to that, Elizabeth and Theodore have mentioned that if they failed, humans would be destroyed from the world. Who wouldn’t like to know that they saved humanity from being destroyed by some god? But that wasn’t what caught Hikaru’s attention.

For the first time in his life, he had the ability to help someone. Ever since he was young, he had felt useless. He couldn’t save his mother, he couldn’t help Naoki. He couldn’t save Shiho, or stop Kamoshida. Even with the power he was born with, he couldn’t do anything with it. No matter what happened, he was always stuck in terms of doing anything. Everything felt out of his control, and now he has a chance to make a change, to actually help and matter to someone.

He could also have a place to belong. As Elizabeth had said, he would be forming a proper bond with Akira and his group that forms around him. That gave him the chance at true friendship through the barrier of social status and wealth. He would never feel the loneliness he felt daily, ever since that incident that ruined his view on friendship.

He would risk it all. It might seem foolish, but this was what Hikaru valued. After all, curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Plus, he gets a sweet reward, if he does it right. An extra bonus.

Hikaru ran a hand through his messy hair, taking a deep breath. “I’ll do it, but what do I do?”

The man and woman smiled, bowing once again towards Hikaru. “We thank you for your assistance, Hikaru Aozora.”

“As for how to help, you can begin with this.” Elizabeth waved her hand, and the door he entered to get to the Velvet Room appeared. “This will lead you to the Metaverse, specifically a Palace. There, you will encounter the Trickster and his crew, and you will be able to work from that. For now, that is all. Should any updates arise, you will be informed.”

“So, just walk through this? Nothing you need to give me?”

Theodore looked at his sister, who smiled and nodded subtly to him. “No. We believe that you will be perfectly fine, with the Trickster in proximity. No harm will fall upon you as long as the Trickster remains by your side.”

“Uh, okay, I’ll guess I’ll see you,” Hikaru said offhandedly, staring into the abyss behind the open door.

“Once again, thank you, Hikaru. We cannot express our gratitude enough. We bid you a safe journey.” The siblings bowed once more, and Hikaru stepped into the abyss.

He felt light as he travelled through the Sea of Souls, his mind drifting off. He felt his eyes close once again against his will, and all turned black.

~~~

“You are aware that he would be basically defenseless, right, sister?” Elizabeth hummed in response to her brother’s glare.

“Oh relax, Theodore. Hikaru will be fine. I could sense it in him, you know? One of the strongest Personas to possibly form. It was dying to come out of him, his inner spirit of rebellion.” Theodore sighed, shrugging. How his sister works, he has long given up on trying to understand. It was better to just go with it. If Hikaru truly had such a power, even if it was the weakest of the older ones, he’ll be perfectly fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is where the fun shit happens.


	7. Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where the story begins in my book. Not gonna lie, fight scenes are hard. I don't know how to drag on fight scenes longer than they should be.

“Where am I?” Hikaru muttered to himself, looking around at his surroundings. The sky was red, with no sun, and a huge castle in front of him. There were other buildings surrounding the castle, but they didn’t stand out as much as the castle in front of him.

Hikaru approached the castle cautiously. However, he was taking his time to appreciate the sight. It was gorgeous, with velvet red covering the floors and walls, golden highlights and marble tables. It looked amazing, to say the least.

The words of Elizabeth echoed in his head. _“This will lead you to the Metaverse, specifically a Palace. There, you will encounter the Trickster and his crew, and you will be able to work from that. For now, that is all. Should any updates arise, you will be informed_. _”_

She said that, but it doesn’t really answer anything. Palace of whom? Work off what? Whatever. Hikaru was good at improvising situations anyway. He’ll just let his instinct guide him.

There was not a single soul as Hikaru wandered into the castle. He slowly walked down the hallways, each one twisting and turning into different and longer hallways, but Hikaru followed his gut.

He eventually felt a strong presence. Something that felt powerful, pressuring, even. He moved slowly, checking around the corners, peeking down at hallways and moving behind objects. This pressure just began to build up, and Hikaru soon found the source of it on the other side of a wall. The doorway was down the hall, and it seemed to lead to a church of some kind.

He peeked through the doorway and saw 3 weirdly dressed people and what seemed like a cat fighting a massive creature with armor and wings. Hikaru, against his better will, let out a gasp, managing to catch the attention of the cat. The others seem distracted by the huge creature ahead of them, and rightfully so, seeing as many of them have injuries on many parts of their bodies.

“Guys, take over. I think I see something; I’ll be back.” The cat left the group, leaving one of the fighters, the one with a skull mask, yelling at the cat. The cat ignored him and moved over to Hikaru.

Hikaru quickly backed up, seeing the weird cat in front of him, staring at him strangely. Hikaru was cautious, but he felt as if this thing wouldn’t hurt him, whatever it was.

“What are you doing here?” The cat asked, crossing its short arms. It might have been trying to look intimidating, but with small cuts in its fur and its short stature, it looked less intimidating and more cute, to be honest.

“Uh,” Hikaru struggled for an answer, but before he could get anything else out of his mouth, they were interrupted by a loud yell.

“Mona, watch out! He’s charging for you!” The wall crashed down, destroyed by the huge creature. Hikaru had to brace himself as he saw the huge pieces of rock crash down, quickly moving away to avoid getting squashed into pieces.

“Your Highness, what are you doing here with these intruders?!” A distorted voice from the creature yelled at him, its sword still raised. It took a while for Hikaru to realize that the creature was talking to him.

“W-what?” Hikaru was able to get that out before the creature spoke again.

“Hikaru?!” A few yells questioned, and Hikaru turned his head to the others. They looked familiar, and it took Hikaru a while for him to pinpoint those voices.

“Ann? Ryuji? Akira? Hikaru asked, seeing each of them tense up at the mention of their names. Hikaru wasn’t so sure as to why he was surprised to see them here. It made sense that they were his companions. The monster spoke again, its voice echoing.

“You must be safe! Come with me!” Hikaru couldn’t do anything as the huge monster picked him up and flew away, back down the corridor he came from. Hikaru struggled, but he only heard shouts before something struck him, knocking him out.

~~~

Akira watched, stunned, as the Archangel picked Hikaru up and rushed down the corridor. The group immediately gave chase but were distracted by the huge amounts of Shadows in the way.

“What was he doing here?!” Ann yelled, panic clear on her face as the trio plus cat ran down the hallway, avoiding as many Shadows as possible.

“How the hell should I know?” Ryuji said, keeping his voice low, but still panicked. The group soon arrived at the tower that they were heading to and noticed the lack of Shadows throughout the Palace.

“This…is oddly unsettling,” Akira muttered, and the group agreed. Even though the coast was clear, the group moved slowly, keeping their guard up, prepared for anything to pop up and attack them.

They soon made their way upstairs, stopping right by the safe room outside the huge pair of doors that would lead to the throne room. They took some time to recover themselves before they entered the throne room from the side, not the main entrance.

~~~

“W-where am I?” Hikaru muttered to himself, feeling the world spin. He found himself in a strange room that looked like a throne room. He slowly got up, noticing that he seemed to be within what looked like a huge birdcage.

He looked around to see many guards in armor surrounding the cage, with the cage suspended in the air by a rope. Seeing how he was essentially trapped, and not wanting to waste any energy, Hikaru sat down on the cold metal, waiting for something to begin.

“Ah, it seems you are awake,” A familiar voice exclaimed, and Hikaru turned his head towards the back, seeing a very familiar face walk through the doors.

“Kamoshida?!” Hikaru asked, shock in his voice, getting up. Shock not from seeing Kamoshida, but from his outfit. It was basically nothing, just a cape and speedos underneath. Hikaru wanted to gag from just looking at it.

“How nice to see you here, Hikaru Aozora. I must say, I didn’t expect you to be an intruder in my castle. As you must know, intruding will be punished.” With that last line, Kamoshida gestured with his hand, and a guard with golden armor passed to him a volleyball.

Kamoshida tossed the ball into the air and spiked it, sending it straight towards the cage. It hit the cage with enough force to cause it to dent, as well as for Hikaru to get flung to the other end, hitting the other side of it with a loud yell of pain.

Hikaru got up slowly, feeling blood run down his forehead. Did he really hit the cage with that much force? Just as he got up, he heard the cage door unlock, the guard from before entering and pulling him out roughly.

“Bring him over here.” Hikaru felt himself get dragged over to Kamoshida, where he was thrown on the ground in front of the man. Kamoshida pulled him up by his hair, causing Hikaru to scream in agony.

“Don’t you know how much trouble you caused me?! All because of your father!” Kamoshida punched him as he finished that sentence, sending Hikaru to the ground once again.

“Just because he’s some big-league boss, I couldn’t lay a hand on you, or he’ll ruin my career! Just because you were daddy’s boy, huh?! He should have died, together with his wife! Then you would be a slave like everyone else!” Kamoshida kicked Hikaru hard, and Hikaru gasped as he felt something break inside of him. He couldn’t stop the whimper from his lips and tears from his eyes as he felt something shift as he got to his knees.

“Now, what should I do to you? Break every single one of your bones and leave you to die? Burn you until you are no longer recognizable? Peel your skin and let your blood run free? Oh, so many options!” Kamoshida grinned sadistically, cackling at the end of it.

Hikaru laid prone on the ground, feeling his body ache. He let Kamoshida’s words sink in and realized just what Kamoshida said. His father should have died?

_“Hey, Dad, you won’t leave me, right?”_

_“No matter what, I’ll be right here, my little sky. No matter what…”_

Hikaru felt the blood drip down his chin, landing on the red carpet on the floor. He glared at Kamoshida, the malice clear in his gaze. The panic he felt before was gone, replaced with anger. He began to see red. Kamoshida knew nothing, nothing about the struggles he has gone through, nothing about the pain and rejection he had faced. Nothing. And he dared to say such a thing?

Ann and Akira were right, it wasn’t his fault.

Hikaru didn’t know what snapped in him. It suddenly felt as if a large pressure was lifted from his eyes, letting him see clearly. Did it matter what happened to the school? How could he have let Kamoshida go on with this for so long? How many lives had turned out like Shiho’s, at the brink of death because of this man? Hikaru shuddered, eyes not blinking as he stared at the king. He stumbled onto his feet, one hand grasping his aching side.

“Guards, my sword!” Kamoshida ordered, hand reaching out. A sword was passed to him, which was pointed right at Hikaru’s neck. The heir didn’t flinch but instead narrowed his eyes.

“I was wrong. All this time, I was wrong. I was so silly, huh. Ann and Akira were right.” Hikaru chuckled, forcing himself to stand straight. The door banged open, and the trio along with the cat entered. “Hikaru!!”

Hikaru glanced back, seeing Akira, Ryuji, and Ann with weapons out, ready to defend him. “Hey, Akira, Ann, you were right.”

“I mean, yeah, but now’s not the time for this, Hikaru! Are you okay? We need to get you out!” Ann yelled, but Akira lowered his knife, meeting Hikaru’s eyes. The heir’s eyes burned with the spirit of rebellion. Akira smirked, his eyes turning bright crimson. “Yeah, we were. You know what to do, right, Hikaru? We’ll back you up.”

“Enough of this! Guards, arrest the intruders!” With that command, more guards appeared from the Shadows, surrounding the group. Hikaru stared as Kamoshida raised his sword, preparing to strike Hikaru. “Any last words?”

Hikaru maintained eye contact as he spoke loud and clear. “You really are the worst of the worst here, Kamoshida. Die in a hole.”

Kamoshida’s face scrunched in anger. The man swung the sword, but it never connected.

 _“Finally. Is that all you have to say, Young Master?”_ A soft voice whispered from the back of Hikaru’s mind. _“He has been the cause of your suffering for long enough, won’t you say?”_

“It was my mistake, my selfishness that has led to you being like this. I shouldn’t have let my own fear and insecurity take over the anguished voices of the students screaming for help. That was my fault, and I’ll happily take responsibility. Right now, however, this needs to stop!” Hikaru’s voice got louder and louder, and he walked forward, feeling energy pulse through him and project outwards. This knocked the sword out of Kamoshida’s hands, guards immediately flanking their king.

There was a small silence, broken by Kamoshida’s growl.

“You arrogant brat, what do you think you can do?! Don’t you understand your situation, you useless piece of trash?! I’ll make sure you won’t live this experience!” Kamoshida growled in rage, reaching over and punching Hikaru, but the heir didn’t flinch once again, letting the punch knock him back.

 _“That was all I needed. Good on you,”_ Hikaru heard the voice again. Pain immediately rushed through his head, causing him to yell in anguish. Hikaru fell to his knees, clutching his head. The pain he felt from his injuries felt almost numb compared to the pain in his head. An aura began to surround him, pushing back Kamoshida and the surrounding soldiers further back. Hikaru’s skull pounded, hurting even more as he tried to get up.

 _“It seems it’s time for me to offer my help. All this while, I have watched you fall, and you have finally decided to stand. I assure you, you won’t regret it. Let us forge our contract.”_ Hikaru screamed as what seemed to be lines of blue fire covered his body, engulfing his clothes and his face. The flames didn’t burn, but instead healed. Hikaru felt the pain in his body go away, healing any injuries caused by Kamoshida.

 ** _“I am thou, and thou art I. Knowledge is power, and yet so little can see the true potential of it. You let your emotions cloud your judgement, but no longer. You are the sky, knowing all underneath. I trust you to make the right judgement for yourself_** _.”_ With that, Hikaru felt the pain die down, something materializing over his face. He reached up to feel what seemed like a pair of steampunk-era goggles. He pulled them off, feeling resistance as it was stuck to his face. He pulled harder with a loud shout, blue flames surrounding his being as the goggles dissolved. When the fire died down, everything about Hikaru had changed.

He had on a black hoodie with blue lines of fire running down the sides and across the front, as well as black pants that had the symbol of the Velvet Room on one leg. His goggles rested on his forehead, with blue lenses that had displays all over it. Hikaru’s eyes has changed as well, turning into a darker shade of blue. Behind him stood his Persona.

It was a lean man, holding a book in one hand and having a staff across his back. He had on what looked like an olden long-sleeved button-up shirt and pants with a robe over it. He had short brown hair and blue eyes, much like Hikaru’s, and a small screen in front of him.

“Hikaru!” A voice yelled, followed Akira, Ann, and Ryuji appearing by his side, followed by the strange cat he met before. Hikaru grinned, feeling power run through him. He looked back up at Kamoshida, a grimace forming on his face.

“Wait, that symbol…” Morgana muttered to himself as he saw Hikaru’s outfit. Akira also paused; his mouth slightly open in shock at seeing the symbol of the Velvet Room. Akira shook his head. Now wasn’t the time, he had a friend to help.

“I’ll need your help, Akira. We’ll take them down, now!” Hikaru yelled, as Kamoshida growled and a golden guard stood in front of him.

“Barrier formation!” At Joker’s command, the group gathered themselves and stood in front of Hikaru, between him and the guard. The guard melted, taking shape as a huge bird with multicolored feathers. Ryuji took a step back. “What’s that thing?! We’ve never seen that before!” The group took cover at the unknown creature before them. Morgana attempted to attack, only for it to deflect off the creature. “I can’t hit it!”

“I got you!” The thieves looked back at Hikaru. He grinned with confidence at the unknown target. Hikaru flung the goggles off his face into the blue flame, summoning his Persona. “Merlin!”

With that command, Merlin snapped open his book, a target appearing in front of the creature. Within seconds, the information needed to defeat the beast was in front of him and all the Thieves.

“Weak to electricity, nullifies wind!” With that information in mind, the three humans and cat grinned. They jumped into position, Hikaru staying towards the backline. Akira immediately issued the command.

“Alright! You heard him, Skull!”

“No need to tell me twice!” The blond said, pulling his mask off to summon his Persona. Captain Kidd launched sparks of electricity from its cannon at his master’s will, knocking the Phoenix down to the ground with a screech.

“Alright, let’s go!” With that, the group charged in for an All-Out Attack. Hikaru coordinated the attacks from afar, while the others charged in to get as many hits off as they could. However, it wasn’t enough to kill it, and the Phoenix rose again. It growled, raising its wings. Heat began gathering in its wings, causing the temperature of the room to increase. A display from Merlin alerted Hikaru of the upcoming attack being prepared by the Shadow.

“Incoming Maragi! Take cover!” Akira instinctively followed the command, switching to Eligor to minimize the damage done by the fire spell. The others seemed to not be too affected, with only slight burns on them, nothing a quick Media from Morgana couldn’t fix.

“Thanks, Hikaru! Now let’s kill this thing!” Ryuji knocked it down once again with a well-timed Zio attack, and the four fighters struck once again. The Shadow dissipated with an anguished cry, and the Personas of the Thieves returned to their masks.

“Heh, that was…cool…” Hikaru muttered, swaying on his feet and slumping onto the ground. Akira quickly moved to catch him, while the others were keeping watch. It seemed that everyone evacuated the room when they were busy with the Phoenix. The group quickly made their way out of the castle, taking care to not hurt the newly awakened Persona user.

~~~

“You okay?” Akira asked, and Hikaru nodded. The group was in the Shibuya Underground Mall, Hikaru sitting down beside a vending machine.

“That was interesting, to say the least…” Hikaru muttered, glancing at the group gathered in front of him. It was an interesting bunch of people. His friends, dare he say it.

“No physical injuries, even though what Kamoshida did would definitely have left something…” Morgana said, and Ryuji flinched at that. Hikaru was too entranced by the fact that he was perfectly fine, with no sign of injury on him. Was that a consequence of his Awakening?

“The whole Morgana-can-talk thing is still weird, but I think I’ll get used to it. You’re still adorable,” Hikaru said with a gush. The cat shrugged, if it could even do that. He jumped into Hikaru’s lap and allowed the heir to give him pets.

“So, Hikaru, how did you get into the Metaverse, anyway?” Ann asked, and Hikaru hesitated. Should he tell them about Elizabeth and her request?

 _“No. The attendant says that her existence should only be kept to guests of the Velvet Room,”_ The voice in his head chimed, and he decided to make something up. He felt bad for doing it, seeing as these people saved his life, but he had to. Who would believe him if he said some weird space lady from the blue room of imagination sent him there? “I don’t know, I was doing my work in the library when I suddenly felt a headache. I closed my eyes for a second, and I was in front of the castle when I opened them.”

“How the hell…?” Ryuji muttered, a confused look on his face.

“Regardless, it seems your Persona isn’t one with combat abilities, but something about it feels off…” Morgana said to Hikaru, which caused confusion to the rest of the group.

“What do you mean, ‘doesn’t have combat abilities?’ Aren’t all Personas equipped for combat?” Akira asked. Morgana sighed, beginning to explain, but was interrupted by Hikaru.

“Not quite. Some Personas are more information and navigation-oriented, and don’t have abilities that could otherwise harm Shadows,” Hikaru explained, looking puzzled after he was done. Everyone stared at him in shock.

“Umm…yeah, actually. That’s right on point. Also, Hikaru’s Persona would also not be useful in taking hits from Shadows. Being a navigation Persona, it would be bad if he went down, so he would be the priority in combat. Got it?” Morgana continued, and the others nodded.

Hikaru felt awkward, seeing as he was just introduced to them and their dynamic, yet everyone was already focused on protecting him. It was a strange feeling. Everyone seemed to center around him, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.

“So, Hikaru, would you help us out in all of this?” Akira asked, snapping the others from their heated discussion.

“Sorry, we never did ask you if you wanted to join us, did we? I guess we just got caught up in the excitement and pulled you in…” Ann apologized shyly, looking away from Hikaru’s gaze. The others looked apologetic as well.

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that, Hikaru.” Ryuji scratched the back of his neck, letting out an awkward chuckle.

“No, it’s fine. And of course, I would be happy to help. After all, what would be the point of this power if I didn’t help? _Plus, I’m in this even if I didn’t want to, with Elizabeth and that mess,_ ” Hikaru whispered the last part, looking to see if any of the others had caught that. It didn’t seem so.

 _“You might want to watch your words. It seems that the issue with the attendant will be our secret…”_ Hikaru heard his Persona say in his mind, and he nodded to himself. _“Speaking of which, she has a way of warning others about sending them to possible life-threatening situations.”_ Hikaru snorted, which drew the confused looks of his teammates. He waved them off.

“Great! Now we’ve got a new ally, as well as secured a route to the Treasure, we’re ready to go for it whenever you guys are ready. Remember, our deadline is May 2nd, so that’s about a week away. We have time, so no need to rush immediately.” Morgana broke down the situation so that Hikaru as well as the others could understand the situation easily.

“So we send a calling card to materialize the Treasure, and we grab it to rid Kamoshida of his desires while hoping that it doesn’t kill him in the process?” Hikaru summarized, and Morgana nodded with what he thinks is a smile.

“Hmm, I really like you, Hikaru. You seem to catch things so much faster, unlike someone here…” Morgana said, glancing over at the blond-haired boy, who scowled at the cat.

“Shut up, cat!” Ryuji growled, and Morgana seemed to grin at him. At least, from what Hikaru could tell.

“Well, I have to go soon, so let’s exchange contact info,” Ann said, and the group pulled out their phones. Before long, their contact information was shared, and the group disbanded for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you want to!


	8. Resting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing special to note. Enjoy!

Hikaru got onto the train headed for Akihabara, where his house was located. He was technically supposed to be at home when he was pulled into the Palace. How would he explain this to the staff?

Once he got home, he sneaked in and back into his room, feeling the activities from the day drain him. Who knew summoning a Persona could be so taxing both physically and mentally? However, once he got to his room, he saw something that shocked him.

There was Theodore, in his room. The silver-haired man seemed to be just sitting on his bed, staring at the books he had in his room.

“Ah, Master Hikaru, pardon me for my intrusion,” the attendant started, getting off the bed when he noticed Hikaru enter.

Hikaru looked unimpressed. “Fuck you. Help me tell Elizabeth to stuff her book up her-”

“Understood. Trust me when I say, I had no part in wanting to send you defenseless into the Metaverse. That was all her, and I have long learned to just go with it.”

Hikaru sighed, lying down on his bed. “So, how can I help you, Theodore?”

“My sister forgot to give you something to aid you in helping us. This,” the white-haired man passed him the book in his hands, “is the Persona Compendium. It holds the record of Personas that a past Wild Card has gained and used. The many Personas recorded in this book will help you guide and lead the Trickster. Please return it as the time comes,” Theodore gave the book over to Hikaru.

Hikaru accepted the book, opening it and flipping through it. Each page had one Shadow, with a description as well as weaknesses and strengths of each Shadow. It was very thorough, and was organized by Arcana, and then alphabetically. It is clear, as well as full of information.

“Wow… this is cool. Thank you, I’ll use this well,” Hikaru said, smiling up at Theodore. The attendant smiled back at Hikaru, turning around and opening the portal.

“I trust you will. After all, you have been gifted with one of the most knowledgeable Personas. Merlin will definitely aid you in understanding the situation we are in, being one of the oldest Personas present in the Sea of Souls.” Theodore turned and bowed one last time.

“Oh, and before I go, my sister wanted to warn you to make sure to keep yourself hidden from the imposter. While we try to find our master, you will have to help the Trickster without the imposter’s knowledge. We have marked you with the mark of the Velvet Room while in the Metaverse, so you will be safe there. You will have to be careful of your words around the Trickster, as he doesn’t know about the imposter. Please keep it that way until we are ready. The more he knows, the higher the chance of failure,” Theodore mentioned. He waved a goodbye and walked away, the door closing and disappearing behind him.

Hikaru stared at the empty space for a few moments and decided to go to the bathroom to take a bath. He needed it now, just to think about things and relax. All the information was too much for one day.

He prepared the bath and got in after a moment. It was refreshing, just staying in the bath after a long day. The information just lurked in his head, and he had no idea what to do with any of it. He was new to all of this, and yet he feels like he’s going to be the center to the entire team already. To be honest, this is pressuring. He felt his breath shorten as he thought more about it.

Hikaru was scared.

He was scared of letting everyone down. He was scared of dragging everyone down, and that he would be the cause of everyone’s death. He was terrified of it. What if he messed up? What if his ability caused problems for everyone? Hikaru was inexperienced, and he didn’t know how to help to his best extent.

Hikaru sighed, his head leaning back. He reached to the depths in his mind, looking for Merlin. He needed someone to converse to, and who better than himself? He got out of the bath, got dressed in a comfortable set of clothes, and laid down on his bed, spread-eagled.

 _“You don’t have to be so anxious. Trust yourself, and you’ll be fine, Hikaru,”_ Merlin said, the Persona appearing in front of him, hovering in the air. Hikaru looked up at the huge Persona, him staring back with a serene smile on his face.

“How are you here again? We’re not in the Metaverse. You’re breaking rules here, Merlin,” Hikaru said, a small smile on his face. The Persona chuckled, fading back into the boy’s mind.

 _“You tell me that. You know how I’m here.”_ He did. Just by gaining Merlin, his knowledge about the Metaverse seemed to expand. Theodore wasn’t lying. Merlin’s knowledge about the operation of the Sea of Souls and Personas told him that stronger bonds with Personas allowed for them to materialize in the real world, albeit weaker and only visible to its owner.

He was still curious about one thing, though. “Why do you talk like a normal person? Well, as opposed to archaic talk, seeing as you’re apparently super old. From what I know, all the other Personas talk like they’re from medieval times. What makes you special?”

His Persona reappeared and snapped his fingers. Merlin’s clothes changed, appearing in what seemed like a t-shirt and jeans. _“When you know how the world is evolving, you evolve with it. Most Personas aren’t too in touch with the real world, you know.”_

“Fair enough. But to what extent do your powers reach across dimensions?”

A screen popped up in front of him, showing the situation in Kamoshida’s Palace. _“Stop asking questions you know the answer to, Young Master.”_

“Fine. Then you know what’s worrying me, don’t you?”

 _“I’m telling you, you don’t need to worry so much. I’m you, and I know what’s best for you. Trust yourself and trust me. I’m your true self, remember?”_ Merlin smirked, giving Hikaru a wink. The boy sighed, feeling the cheesiness of that line turn his insides. Yet, it still managed to cheer him up. “That was absolutely disgusting.”

 _“You’re welcome,”_ Merlin said, and Hikaru chuckled. Merlin really was his true self, his hidden rebellious spirit. What a smartass.

“I am thou, and thou art I…huh?” Hikaru muttered, closing his eyes slowly. He soon felt a calming presence in his head, and he soon fell into a deep sleep, not noticing his Persona reappear.

 _“You are so much more powerful than you give yourself credit for, and you just need to realize that. After all, you awakened to me,”_ Merlin muttered, a soft smile on the Persona’s face, watching as Hikaru fell asleep, disappearing back into his owner’s mind.

~~~

“Ah, Theodore, I think I might have a clue on what happened to Master Igor,” Elizabeth said, seeing her brother reappear through the portal.

“Have you heard from Margaret?” The silver-haired man asked, causing his sister to pout at him.

“Hey! Do not interrupt me! Why do you care more about Margaret than me anyway?” Elizabeth said, the childish pout still on her face. Theodore sighed. His sister was always more childish, which was why he preferred speaking to Margaret, who was more mature.

“It is a concern, however. Margaret has been gone for longer than she should. Could something have happened to her?” Elizabeth wondered, seriousness in her tone.

“Well, should I inform Hikaru, then? It would be beneficial for him to know about what we know,” Theodore asked, and Elizabeth shook her head.

“The boy needs time to recuperate from this huge amount of information. I will go once I see that he is ready,” she said, chuckling ominously.

“Cut the drama, sister.”

“Aww, you’re no fun, Theo!”

“Also, he told you to shove your book up your-”

“I expected that and do not blame him in any way.”

~~~

Hikaru woke up feeling sore. He hurt all over and was happy that today was Sunday. Sundays were chill days, where he could just stay in his room the whole day. His phone buzzed, causing Hikaru to groan, reaching his hand over to grab his phone.

**_AK:_ ** _Hey Hikaru, how are you holding up?_

**_HA:_ ** _I hurt all over._

**_RS:_ ** _yeah that happens on your first time_

**_AT:_ ** _Take a break, go do something you enjoy. We won’t be going to the Palace anytime, seeing as we secured the Treasure route, so you don’t have to worry about catching up anytime._

**_HA:_ ** _Thanks._

**_AK:_ ** _Morgana wanted to talk to you, for some reason._

**_AK:_ ** _We’re gonna meet up anyways. So, if you don’t mind, can you meet us somewhere today?_

**_HA:_ ** _Sorry, but I’m busy today. Maybe sometime next week?_

**_AK:_ ** _Sure, and it’s fine. Mona says it’s nothing urgent, so no need to rush._

**_RS:_ ** _w_ _ell you take it easy for today. well see you tomorrow at school, yeah?_

**_HA:_ ** _Definitely._

Hikaru sighed, dropping his phone on the bed. He glanced at the thick book beside him and decided to read it today. While he rests, he would learn about the different Shadows, weaknesses, strengths, and background. It would benefit him and the team greatly.

“Starting with Fool then…”

~~~

“Man, I hope Hikaru gets better,” Ryuji said, sighing. The trio plus cat were hanging out in the Shibuya Diner. Having free time, the group decided to meet up and discuss about the Palace, as well as their newest member.

“So, Morgana, what did you want to tell us?” Ann asked, glancing at the cat as he jumped onto the open seat beside Akira.

“Something about Hikaru’s Persona gives me an odd feeling…” Morgana said ominously, the cat glancing down on the table. Akira picked him up, which caused Morgana to hiss.

“You okay there? You’re acting depressed,” Akira said, petting the cat, causing the cat to try and struggle, but sinking into the pets soon enough. Even though with his denial of his being, Morgana enjoyed pats greatly.

“Ahh…Wait, stop it!” Morgana growled, causing the group to laugh, and Morgana to grumble in embarrassment. The cat laid down on Akira’s lap, causing Akira to shuffle uncomfortably.

“So, what’s wrong with his Persona? Merlin seems perfectly fine to me,” Ann asked, taking a sip from her iced tea. The two boys nodded in agreement.

“I don’t know how to explain it, but something about it just puts me off. It’s not a bad feeling, per se, just… a weird feeling. Like it feels… familiar, for some reason. Hikaru’s aura gives off that feeling, and it’s calming, relaxing. I feel like he would be essential in the future, somehow,” Morgana explained, and everyone listened quietly, taking in the information. Ryuji was the first to speak after a short moment of silence.

“That made absolutely no sense,” the boy said, sighing. This only served to start an argument between the two, which ended with Akira picking Morgana up and placing him in his bag, and Ann telling Ryuji to shut up.

“But… what do you want to do about it, Morgana? There’s not much we can do, is there? We could talk to Hikaru about it, but I don’t think he would have any explanation, seeing as he was just introduced to the Metaverse and got his Persona just yesterday,” Ann said, looking at the bagged cat in concern. Morgana’s head popped out of the bag, a concerned look on his face.

“I know, but I just wanted to tell you all this, just in case…” Morgana said, ducking back into the bag. Ann looked at Akira in concern, sending him a silent message. Akira nodded, and the group stayed in silence for a moment.

Their food soon arrived, and the gloomy atmosphere dispersed. The group laughed, joked, had fun. Morgana’s strange feeling was soon forgotten, and the group made merry until the end of the day.

Hikaru sighed, closing the Persona Compendium. He got nowhere close to finishing. He was only on the Justice Arcana currently, the eighth out of twenty-one documented. There were so many, it made his head spin. So many beings, from all different cultures from around the world. Shadows were built from human cognition, so he knew a good amount of these Shadows.

After all, they were all just in his head, literally.

A knock on his door brought him back into reality. It was already late afternoon, and he felt tired. He sighed. He got too engrossed in the book that he managed to skip both breakfast and lunch, making his stomach rumble. Another knock on his door caused Hikaru to get up. Hikaru opened the door, seeing his butler there, a kind smile on his face.

“Young Master, the master called for you in the dining room. Dinner is prepared for you. Are you okay, sir? The staff has informed me that you haven’t had lunch,” The butler said, causing Hikaru to smile back.

“It’s alright. I was just distracted by something the whole day. It’s not a cause for concern,” Hikaru said with a reassuring tone.

“If you say so, Young Master, but do keep your health in mind,” the butler said concerningly. Hikaru nodded, making his way downstairs to the dining room.

There was a huge marble round table filled with a good amount of food. Sat facing towards the entryway of the dining room was Kazuyoshi Aozora, eating a well-done steak. There was also another plate, directly opposite of his father, meant for him.

Hikaru took a seat and began eating. This was a normal routine, both of them having dinner together, yet not speaking at all. Hikaru didn’t mind, but a small part of him wished that something about this could be changed. It couldn’t be helped, after all. He already has asked for so much. He’s willing to compromise with this.

“Hikaru,” his father started, catching him by surprise. His father never talked during dinner unless it was something important. His mother was strict about table manners.

“I need you to look into something for me.” Hikaru turned his eyes up, slightly wary but excited, nonetheless. It wasn’t often that his father asked him to do tasks for him.

“Okay?” Hikaru answered, hesitant. Aozora Media Works has plenty of informants and info gatherers, so why did he need Hikaru specifically to do this?

“The artist Madarame is hosting an art exhibit soon in Shibuya. I need someone to be there but be subtle enough to blend into the background. I thought you would do well since you know his background already.” Hikaru’s eyes narrowed, staring at his father. The man reciprocated, not breaking eye contact.

“And what do you want me to do? Just stay there and watch the man?” The man shook his head.

“No, you won’t be watching him. Instead, I want you to keep an eye on his disciple, Kitagawa Yusuke. Something tells me he’s involved in this case a lot deeper than you would think. Try to talk to him, gather info.” Hikaru sighed, getting up.

“So, I get to use the Archives?” Hikaru asked, a hidden layer of excitement in his voice. His father slid a folder towards him, Hikaru catching it as it reached right in front of him. In it was an info sheet, as well as a ticket to the art exhibit. He pocketed the ticket, looking back towards his father.

“Use whatever you think is necessary,” his father said, an unnoticeable grin on his face. It was nice to see his son excited about his job.

“Deadline?” Hikaru asked.

“Take your time. It isn’t a main title, so it won’t matter that much when you get it done. The exhibit’s your best chance at getting info, though.”

Hikaru nodded, grabbing the file. He finished his dinner quickly and headed to the computer room. It had state-of-the-art computers, a cool temperature, as well as many systems and backup monitors stored in boxes to the side.

Hikaru took a seat at the computer and typed the huge number of passwords needed in order to access the archive. Due to the increasing number of hackers in the world, and the Aozora Archives being the largest in the country, protection was crucial for it to remain secure. Even the board of directors of the company only knew some of them, while his father and he knew all of it.

Hikaru looked over the file and read it, making sure he knew what to do. It was a summary of what he already knew but in slightly more detail. The important points are up to him to discover.

“Find evidence of plagiarism and abuse caused by Madarame on Kitagawa Yusuke,” Hikaru muttered to himself. The brunet got to work, documenting what he found in paper form and planning to summarize it to a document for his father during his spare time.

It was around midnight when Hikaru decided to stop for the night, heading back to bed. He had a rough summary done, and he couldn’t stay up too late working on this. There was already plenty of information, but he needed to do more field research. There was school tomorrow, so he needed to get back to his room, or he would be dozing off in class, and that wasn’t wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hikaru's thing in this chapter does get an explanation later.


	9. Stealing a Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The thing happens.

The group met after school on the rooftop. Akira was leaning on one of the huge ventilation machines, hands in his pockets. Ryuji was sprawled on one of the chairs, on his phone. Ann was sitting on one of the tables, her legs crossed. She was petting Morgana, who was right beside her, out of the bag. Hikaru was leaning on the railing, looking out into the distance.

“Alright, let’s get started,” Morgana said, and the group gathered around the table the cat was on.

“So, what’re we doin’? Sending the calling card?” Ryuji asked, an excited look on his face. It quickly deflated when Akira shook his head, which also earned the confusion of Ann.

“Why not? We’re set, and I think the faster we do this, the better, don’t you think so?” Ann asked.

“Well, yes, but I wanted to just go through the Palace and fight some Shadows to get Hikaru the experience. Experience for us is also good to have. We’re probably going to have to fight Kamoshida’s Shadow in order to get to the Treasure, so we need to make sure we’re prepared, as well as get Hikaru acquainted with our group dynamic,” Akira explained, and Morgana smirked.

“Well, our leader has spoken. You ready, Hikaru?” Morgana asked the brunet, and he nodded, pulling out his phone and activating the Metaverse Navigator, which appeared after his first return from the Metaverse, causing a familiar distortion to pull them into the Metaverse.

“Before we go in, we need to decide a code name for Hikaru,” Akira said as the Palace appeared in their view, their Metaverse outfits swapping for their school uniforms.

“Oh yeah… Huh. I have no idea, actually. He has that very distinct look to him, doesn’t he?” Ann mentioned, causing the rest of the group to agree. The group pondered on it for a moment.

Ryuji spoke up with a suggestion soon. “Ooh, he’s going to be our support, so how about Scout?”

“It’s kinda lame… also, isn’t that too generic?” Hikaru said, and Akira muttered in agreement.

“Well, how about Magician?” Ann suggested, and Akira rejected it. ‘Too confusing,’ he said, which created some doubts, but they won’t question Akira. He's had good naming sense so far. There was a short silence before someone else spoke up.

“…Sky.” Akira muttered, which Morgana seemed to agree to.

“Yeah, that makes sense! He gives us the information needed to lead us to victory. He would be like our all-seeing sky, right?” Morgana said.

“It would fit with your name, wouldn’t it, Hikaru? You’re the sky that sees everything in your view,” Ann added in.

They turned to Hikaru. “I think it’s fine. No objections here. You’re the pros, so I’ll leave it to you.”

“Well, let’s go!” Ryuji cheered enthusiastically, and the group moved. They sneaked past Shadows towards a safe room, not detected and without opposition. From there, they then began making their way back through the Palace.

~~~

“Show me your true form!” Joker yelled, crawling up a Shadow and pulling off its mask. The group leaped back, with Sky making more distance.

“Extra much?” the navigator whispered to himself, which Panther heard. She let out a snort in response, rolling her eyes. “We just let him do whatever he wants,” the girl replied.

Focusing back on the battle, Sky retreated to the back, allowing the blue flames to remove his goggles. Merlin opened his book, causing displays to pop up in front of the boy. Sky tapped on the displays and aimed them at the Shadows that appeared, allowing the information that he read on the Persona Compendium to pop up on the displays within a moment.

“Alright, a Succubus, two Pixies, and a Berith. Joker, you know what to do. Cover Berith with Genbu,” Sky commanded, taking the lead in combat. The thief did as commanded, switching Personas to the turtle deity and using Bufu on the Berith. Ice slowly crawled onto the horseman and shattered, causing it to get knocked down from the critical attack.

“Joker, pass to Panther! Panther, fire at will!” The girl rushed towards Joker, whose hand was in the air, ready for a high five. She slapped it, feeling the power from a Baton Pass rush through her. Pulling out her submachine gun, she sprayed, allowing the many bullets in the gun to spread across the Shadows, knocking all of them down. The group rushed forward, guns and weapons aimed towards the downed group of Shadows.

“W-what do you want?!” the Succubus demanded nervously. Joker, deciding to forgo negotiations with the poor Shadows, called for an All-Out Attack. The group gained some distance and charged in for the kill. Sky kept an eye on everyone’s movements, analyzing them for later use. It seems that Skull was one of the fastest and hardest-hitting attackers, while Mona had a hard time catching up with his shorter legs and smaller stature. However, this made him the deadliest, as he was able to strike silently and stealthily. Not really needed for an All-Out Attack, but important to note.

As the group fell back behind Joker, Panther came up to him.

“That was great, Sky! It’s almost like you’ve got this down already!” She said, causing the brunet to thank her and blush in embarrassment. He felt relieved, mostly that he was able to contribute enough to help the group.

The group continued, fighting many Shadows that came in different parts of the castle. Sky felt more comfortable, now knowing that he was able to do his job perfectly fine. It wasn’t until a while later that they had an issue.

Goosebumps ran up Sky’s skin, telling him something was off. A suffocating feeling crept up on him, and Merlin alerted him with a pop-up on his goggles. The Persona materialized; book open with an image facing his master. The boy frowned.

“Umm, guys?” Sky said, causing the group to stop moving. The navigator pulled up some displays and furrowed his brow at the information presented to him. He swiped the screen to Mona, who glanced at it and frowned.

“We’re getting out now. I’ll explain later,” the cat said, and the group, albeit confused, followed the duo as they led them out of the Palace.

~~~

“So, what was that about?” Ryuji asked once the group shimmered out of the Metaverse, back onto the roof of the school. Hikaru and Morgana let out a sigh of relief.

“Kamoshida was coming back to his castle, and he isn’t afraid of just decimating us. We can’t continue on with the chance of him finding us instantly and knocking us out from the Palace easily with heavy injuries,” Hikaru explained, and the group had a moment of realization.

“We never really thought about that, huh?” Akira muttered, causing the group to nod.

“Well, we usually get out before he gets back, so we rarely have to worry about it. We were facing new enemies, contrary to us now just practicing against Shadows. We took our time, where during the other times we worked quickly and quietly,” Morgana explained, and Hikaru nodded along.

“Plus, it’ll be hard to practice in Palaces, seeing as that will be a problem, and Palaces will collapse once we take the Treasure…” Hikaru muttered to himself.

“Oh, don’t you worry about that, Hikaru. I’ll show you guys something once we clear this Palace and get the Treasure,” Morgana snickered, a sly smirk on his face. This piqued Hikaru’s curiosity greatly, causing him to snap up in alert.

“So I guess we’re stopping here today? I am quite drained. We did quite a lot of fighting today,” Ann said, and Akira and Ryuji agreed, feeling quite drained themselves. The group split up for the day, each returning to their homes.

~~~

This slowly became routine for Hikaru. In the week before the deadline, the group went to the Palace two more times, gaining more experience before possibly confronting Kamoshida. Hikaru soon got used to the group dynamic and was able to analyze the situation and command easier, detect and predict enemy Shadows quicker, and even provide a floor plan with a scan from Merlin. He proved to be incredibly beneficial to the group’s operation, able to do things with his Persona no one else in the group could in terms of information.

Outside of Palaces, the group kept a low profile. They acted like normal students, not catching the eye of anyone else. Well, as much as they already did. Akira was still seen as the dangerous transfer student, Ryuji the rebellious thug, Ann the mixed girl, and Hikaru as the silent rich kid. Either way, it seemed better that the students didn’t notice anything happening. Akira tended to hang out with Ryuji and Ann, with Hikaru occasionally joining, on their off days. Before long, the day had come.

The day to send the calling card.

“So, sending the calling card will materialize the Treasure, yeah?” Ryuji asked, and Morgana nodded his head. The group was gathered on the roof, and the deadline, May 2nd, being two days away.

“To be concise, the calling card will allow Kamoshida to realize that his desires can in fact be stolen, which will materialize the Treasure, the core of his distorted desires. Once we take that out of the Palace and the Metaverse, it should be able to trigger a change in cognition, seeing as all of his desires are no longer there.” Morgana leaped into Hikaru’s lap. The young heir stroked the cat, causing it to purr before hissing.

“So, how are we going to do this?” Ann asked. Ryuji immediately stood up, hand raised.

“Ooh, leave it to me! I always wanted to do something like this!” Ryuji said excitedly. Ann and Morgana already had doubting looks on their face.

“Are you sure, Ryuji? Not to be rude, but you just don’t seem like the kind to have the… elegance, to go with this,” Ann asked. Hikaru and Morgana snickered, leaving Ryuji to pout. “Wouldn’t Hikaru be better at doing things like this?”

“Oh no, I suck at literature and writing. Knock yourself out, Ryuji. Doesn’t mean I won’t judge you if it’s shit, though..” Hikaru said with a sarcastic tone. Ryuji pouted.

“Hey! I can do it! You just watch! You’ll see it tomorrow!” Ryuji fumed, leaving. Akira sighed and heard his phone buzz. He checked it, typed a response, and pocketed it. He beckoned to Morgana, the cat leaping off of Hikaru into Akira’s bag.

“Well, meeting adjourned, I guess,” Hikaru said, stretching and getting up. Ann nodded, heading down herself. Hikaru went to the library, seeing as he didn’t want to immediately head back home. His house was nice, but it felt too… pressuring. The library wasn’t too big, and the presence of other students made it much cozier.

Hikaru grabbed the latest addition to the library on the table, “The Mystic Magician”, and sat down to read. It wasn’t long before someone approached him.

“Ah, Aozora-kun. Nice to see you again.” A brown-haired girl sat in front of him. She had braids in her hair, and a vest over her school sweater, along with the usual skirt and leggings. Her crimson red eyes met Hikaru’s sky-blue ones.

“Hello, Niijima-senpai. Can I help you again?” The girl had an exercise book and a few textbooks in her grasp, setting them down on the table. She opened the first one up, it being math.

“I was wondering if I could ask you to give me a few pointers in my math homework. I’m not the best at math, I’ll admit, and I would like to get a better mark in it. Can you help me with the sinusoidal function here?” The brunette pointed towards the graph, and Hikaru scooched over to get a better look.

“Oh, for this, just apply this formula here and move this here. Then, since you have this value, you should be able to transform the graph there, got it?” Makoto took a while to absorb the information and asked a few questions. Hikaru happily replied and helped where he could. It was a while before Hikaru saw the time.

“It’s quite late, so I’ll go home first, Niijima-senpai. See you,” Hikaru waved to her, to which she waved in return, thanking him for the help he gave. She glanced outside, noticing the bright orange sunset.

“Honestly, I should go home too. Sis should be back soon…”

~~~

“Who did this?!”

Kamoshida’s loud yell was the first thing Hikaru heard when he entered the school compound. Then he noticed the postcards all over the bulletin board. He pulled one off, reading the message on it, and cringed hard.

“Jeez, who wrote this? This is like a child trying to write a serious letter to his parents…” Hikaru muttered, and then remembered that Ryuji made it.

Oh _yeah…_ whoops. He did allow this.

Hikaru saw Akira, Ann, and Ryuji talking in the corner, and approached them. Ryuji was seemingly bragging about the contents, while Ann and Akira sighed despondently, one of the calling cards in Ann’s hand.

“I’m telling you, this is honestly so sloppy. It’s as if you’re trying to sound like a child who’s acting like a grown-up,” she said, and Hikaru snickered softly.

“No it ain’t! Hikaru, what do you think about the calling card?!” Ryuji asked, somehow still managing to keep a low profile.

“Eh,” Hikaru replied offhandedly, his eyes glancing at Kamoshida in the foyer. The teacher was enraged, seeing as he was basically just yelling at all the students in the foyer. Everyone dispersed quickly, and Kamoshida locked eyes with him.

“Was it you guys?!” He yelled, stomping towards the group. The group went silent, and Kamoshida smirked.

“Well, it doesn’t matter, you two will be expelled, anyway.” Kamoshida walked away, pulling off one of the many calling cards on his way. He ripped it in half and threw it in the trash can.

~~~

“Breach and clear!”

With the issued command, Joker and Skull burst into the room, quickly clearing it of the Shadows inside without any time for them to react. Mona and Panther took the rear flank, keeping an eye out for any incoming threats. Any Shadow appearing was taken out immediately or delayed to stop their advance on the group. Finally, between both groups, was Sky, displays surrounding him as he ran alongside the group. Stats and warnings popped up often, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Everything was on high alert, after all. Kamoshida knows they’re coming.

“I don’t sense Kamoshida yet but keep an eye out. The Treasure should be right up ahead. Everything’s clear, so charge forward, Joker.” Joker nodded, allowing Sky to guide his actions as the group move as a collective unit.

They broke into the throne room and rushed straight towards the Treasure. Mona’s eyes glowed as he saw the large crown which shined brightly in front of him. “T-Treasuurrrreeee!!”

“Uh, Mona?” Skull asked, as the cat jumped onto the crown and proceeded to purr. They were interrupted by Sky, which snapped Mona back to attention. “No time for this! We need to get out now!”

“Right. But, uh, we’ll have to lift this together. It’s too big. Isn’t there a way to make it smaller?” Joker added, while Sky performed another routine scan of the Palace.

“Well, better figure it out quick, because we’ve got people on the way!” the navigator yelled.

“Screw it, let’s just go with it!” Panther yelled, holding one side of the crown. With the assistance of Joker, Mona and Skull, they made it out of the Treasure room.

Except there was someone waiting for them there.

Kamoshida spiked a volleyball in their direction, knocking the group away, as well as sending the Treasure flying into his hands. The Treasure shrank as it flew, becoming the size of a normal crown by the time it landed. Kamoshida smirked, staring at the Thieves who gathered themselves.

“You think getting my Treasure will be this easy?! It’s the core of my world, so why would I let it slip out of my hands so easily? You’re so naïve, just like that girl who jumped off the roof!” Kamoshida grinned evilly, his cognition of Ann holding onto him tightly.

“You don’t get to say that about her, you sick bastard! Shiho did her best, and I was the dumbass who didn’t do anything…” Panther muttered the last part to herself, but Hikaru placed a hand on her shoulder, eyes still focused on Kamoshida.

“And you, you Aozora rat. You should’ve been there, on that roof with that bitch. You think that you’re the best shit, just because you have the money to ruin everything. I’ll have you know that you’re the next on my list!” Kamoshida’s grin grew even more creepy, giving Sky strange looks. The brunet shuddered, gritting his teeth.

“Heh heh, you’re all just slaves in this castle! No, even below that! Trash!” A dark aura surrounded Kamoshida and the cognitive Ann, and the Shadow showed it’s true form.

“Oh god, that’s fucking disgusting.” The group stared at Sky, who shrugged.

“Well, he’s not wrong.” Everyone then stared at Joker, who also shrugged in return. “What? It _is_ fucking disgusting! Look at him!”

Kamoshida had turned into a monster that had multiple arms, and a disgustingly long tongue. The Treasure rested on his head, glittering brightly in the lavish room. A wine glass was in his hand, with a woman’s lower body sticking out.

Panther grimaced. “What a fucking pervert. Let’s take him down!”

Kamoshida let out a battle cry, and the attacks began. Oh dear, Sky hated this so much.

~~~

To say that Sky was done with this was an understatement. Everything about this battle felt wrong. The battle itself wasn’t going bad. Currently, the group was landing steady attacks on Kamoshida, slowly chipping away at him. The damage wasn’t apparent, but Merlin said otherwise.

No, what was bothering Sky was how Kamoshida attacked.

“God fucking damn! Panther, watch out!” Panther screamed as she leaped, dodging Kamoshida’s tongue as it swept low. It was the fifth time he tried attacking the girl with his tongue, which disgusted Sky thoroughly. Slobber was all over the floor, wet stains on the clean velvet.

Mona was perched by the balcony, ready to snatch the Treasure resting on Kamoshida’s head. Joker let out a Kouha attack, blinding Kamoshida for a brief moment.

“Mona, strike!” With that command, Mona leaped, knocking off Kamoshida’s crown and putting him in a vulnerable state. Seizing the opportunity, another command was immediately given.

“All-Out Attack!”

~~~

“Oh god, that was so fucking nasty, I need bleach.” After the battle, while Panther was confronting Kamoshida, Sky and Joker were having a conversation of their own.

“Shouldn’t we be, you know, listening to all of this monologue crap?” Joker whispered back with a smile, making Sky smile as well.

“Whoops.”

“Repent for your sins and go back to your real self.” The duo’s attention returned to the current situation, where Kamoshida gave the Treasure over and dissipated into light.

As soon as Kamoshida disappeared, everything began shaking. The roof began caving in, walls were crumbling, the ground was trembling.

“Uhh, time to go! Run for it!” The group dashed down the hallway and down the stairway. Joker was at the front, with Sky holding the rear. “Sky, status report!”

“This place ain’t staying stable for long! About a minute before everything’s rubble and debris!” With that information, the Thieves sprinted as fast as they could. As they were running, the room was caving in behind them. Right as they were close to the exit, Skull tripped, causing him to let out a grunt of pain.

“Skull!” Panther yelled, turning around for a brief second. Sky immediately pulled him up, Skull feeling his leg throbbing in pain. He couldn’t move it at all. “Ah, fuck, move!” he yelled at it, slapping his thigh.

“Fuck it, get on!” Sky picked up Skull on his back at light speed, bolting towards the exit opened by Joker, with Mona by his side. Skull took a glance back and yelled in panic. Right as they jumped into the exit, the ceiling above them broke, leaving the Palace a pile of rubble.

“Out, out, out!” Joker yelled, helping Sky carry Skull into the rift, bringing them back to the human world.

~~~

“You good?” Ann and Akira examined Ryuji’s leg, which seemed fine on the outside. Morgana was beside the duo, with Hikaru beside him, panting heavily.

The cat approached the blond, tapping his leg gently. A soft glow emanated from his paw, and Morgana’s eyes glowing a dull green. Ryuji sighed in relief as he felt the pain begin to subside, whereas Akira and Ann watched in amazement. “Woah, what was that, Mona?”

The cat grinned, eyes dimming back to a sapphire blue. “Your Persona is an extension of your inner self. So, whatever your Persona can do, you can do too. The Metaverse greatly amplifies this, which allows you to do what you see in the Metaverse. Outside, though, small amounts of magic carry over, so you can do the same things, but on a smaller scale.”

“So, that was a Dia spell?” Ann asked in excitement. Morgana nodded, his eyes glowing once again, and a small breeze blew at the group, but there was nowhere that the breeze could come from. A Garu spell. “Wait, so I can do that too?”

“Yeah. With practice, anybody who has awakened to a Persona can. Try it.” The girl closed her eyes and concentrated, and a small flame flickered to life on her palm. She let out a squeak, quickly shaking her hand to extinguish the flame.

“That’s great and all, but we got the Treasure, right?” Hikaru piped up, which Akira showed the medal in his hands. It was Kamoshida’s volleyball gold medal, or at least a replica. The navigator let out a sigh of relief, sitting down on the floor of the alleyway. “So, mission success?”

“Well, we’ll see tomorrow. If the change of heart occurred, then we should see some sort of behavior change, right Morgana?” The cat nodded to Akira’s question, hopping back into his bag. “So, we’ll see tomorrow. For now, we should all go rest, that fight took a lot out of us.”

“Ryuji, will you be fine going home?” Hikaru asked, helping the blond boy up to his feet. The blond grinned in return, patting Hikaru on the back. “I’ll be fine, Hikaru, but thanks for asking. Mona patched it up quite well!”

“If you’re sure. Well, I think I have someone waiting,” Hikaru said, seeing the large limousine right in front of him. He sighed, seeing the envious looks of the Thieves. He grinned and did what his dad has _probably_ told him not to. Oh well. “Well, since you’re fine, I was going to offer a ride home…”

“REALLY?!” The chorus of voices made Hikaru take a step back, but he nodded.

Ryuji suddenly grabbed his leg and moaned in pain. “Oh, my leg is starting to hurt. I don’t think Mona healed it properly…”

Hikaru laughed. “Get in, nerds.” The trio and cat had sparkles in their eyes as the heir nodded at the driver, who overheard their conversation. Together, the group got into the limousine.

~~~

“Holy crap, this is the life!” Ryuji exclaimed, pulling out a can of soda from the mini-fridge. Akira was just lounging comfortably, while Ann decided to lie down on the seat. Hikaru couldn’t judge her, seeing as he was doing the same. Morgana was on his chest, curled up into a small ball.

“I still feel kinda weird, knowing that its all over now. That, and anticipation. Everything will be fine, right Mona?” Akira glanced over to the cat on Hikaru, who nodded in response, not bothering to open its eyes. “We did everything we could, and everything should work as expected. So, take a good rest tonight, okay?”

Everything will be fine, Hikaru tried telling himself, but he couldn’t let the unsettling feeling in him rest. It stayed with him as he dropped his friends off, all the way until he got home.

“ _Chill. Your mind is literally shouting at me,”_ Merlin whispered in his head, causing Hikaru to sigh. He reached into the depth of his mind, pulling out his Persona. The historical mage appeared before him and formed a screen in front of him.

The screen showed an image of Kamoshida, in what looked like his house. He looked like he was extremely regretful, shedding tears and curling up. Hikaru gasped, seeing the once confident and egotistic teacher reduced to such a state. He continued watching as Kamoshida got up and went to the phone. Hikaru didn’t need to see anything more, the unsettling feeling he felt a moment ago gone.

 _“See, all fine. You did everything right, and nothing bad happened. Now, go do something fun. You need it.”_ Merlin dissipated, leaving Hikaru alone, a smile on his face. He went over to his desktop, opening League of Legends. He had already finished his homework, so what better way to waste time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I suck at fight scenes. It gets better, I hope. I can't tell, I'm biased. Next is the fallout of this, and some chill times.


	10. Forming a Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chilling after Kamoshida.

It happened.

Kamoshida had confessed his crime in the middle of the assembly, leaving Akira, Hikaru, Ann, and Ryuji content. Mishima came up to Akira and apologized for his involvement, and all was good.

From what Hikaru knew, Kamoshida would be sentenced to jail for his crimes, and no student will ever be harmed by him anymore. Not like he would anymore, since his distorted desires have been stolen.

“A job well done!” Morgana cheered. The group was currently on the school rooftop, discussing the aftermath of what happened.

“So, did you sell that medal?” Akira nodded, pulling out the stack of cash from his bag. Ryuji and Ann gasped at the amount, while Hikaru nodded in approval. It was nothing new in his perspective, having had seen bigger sums.

“Do you want to go somewhere and celebrate?” Akira asked, a grin on his face. Ann cheered at that, instantly listing out places she wanted to go. Ryuji listened intently, agreeing as long as there was meat involved. Hikaru rolled his eyes, a smile on his face. He glanced at Akira, who had a similar smile, and shrugged.

“Yo, Hikaru, any recommendations? You should know where to take us for good food!” Ryuji suggested, looking over to the heir. Ann’s eyes sparkled as she turned her attention to the heir.

Hikaru laughed. “You sure you want to ask me? My perspective on food and price might be a bit skewed, just saying. We got money from that, but not a lot, especially if you want to go to a high-end place. The most you’ll get at a good buffet is maybe less than 3 hours?”

“Well, then time to starve myself! When we get there, we’re having a feast to celebrate the successful change of heart!” Ann exclaimed, to which the boys agreed. Akira checked his phone and noted the time, signaling Morgana to get in the bag. The cat yowled, jumping in reluctantly. “If that’s all, then we’re dismissed. We can decide on the date and all later, but I have someone to meet now.”

The group split, Hikaru deciding to go home. When Hikaru arrived, he went into his room and summoned his Persona. He found it a nice pastime, talking to his Persona and learning more about this power. Today, though, he had a goal.

“Hey Merlin, wanna do some limit testing?”

The Persona raised an eyebrow. _“Go ahead.”_

“So, how does your power work in this world? Like, what are you able to do?” Merlin grinned at that, flexing his fingers. _“You sure you want the absolute worst?”_

Hikaru faltered at that grin. That looked fucking evil. “O-okay, maybe start small and we’ll work our way up?” Merlin visibly deflated but did as his master commanded.

With a flick of his hand, screens popped up around Hikaru. One of them showed Akira in a clinic, talking to a doctor as she did some kind of test. Another showed Ryuji taking a jog around Shibuya, taking it slowly. Ann was visiting Shiho, pushing her in her wheelchair around while talking with a smile on her face.

 _“Monitoring your friends is easier, especially due to your connection with them. It would be harder if I were to, say, do this.”_ All the screens disappeared, and a new one popped up. It showed Mishima at home, working on his computer. _“By the way, only other Persona users can see all of these. The normal person would just ignore the screens.”_

“Nice to know to track friends. Then, what would be one step further?” Merlin took a while longer, but eventually, Hikaru felt something in his mind. Someone’s thoughts, to be exact. Merlin brought back the display of Akira and Morgana.

_I’m hungry, when’s Akira gonna finish? Fatty tuna sounds delicious right now…_

The owner of these thoughts popped out of Akira’s bag. Morgana stared at the doctor and patient as they tested different drugs, a small pout on his face.

“Hey Akira, shouldn’t we be leaving soon?” The cat had said, to which Akira petted him, causing the cat to yowl.

_Stop petting me, I just want to eat! I’m hungry!_

Morgana jumped out, heading out to go find food. Hikaru laughed, seeing the small temper tantrum the cat was throwing. _“You know, you can also contact him. Try it. Just think, I’ll send it.”_ Hikaru raised an eyebrow and shrugged. Hey, what did he have to lose? Plus, it would be funny.

“ _Yo, Mona, where are you going?”_ The cat startled, looking around. He hissed.

_Who’s that?! Why are you in my head?!_

Hikaru chuckled to himself. It seemed that Morgana heard that, as he hissed louder. _“It’s me, Hikaru. You mentioned Persona abilities, so I was testing mine. It seems that telepathy is a thing I can do. By the way, go back, Akira’s looking for you.”_ The cat calmed down significantly at that.

_Oh cool. I don’t think the others tried yet, or they did and didn’t really mention it? I know Akira hasn’t since he’s too worried about the multiple Persona thing affecting it._

_“Oh, yeah. By the way, I could slip a mental note for Akira to get you food, I think?”_ Hikaru turned to Merlin, who nodded. _“Yeah, Merlin says yes.”_

_Oh thank you so much. I’m starving!_

_“All right, I’m out.”_ Merlin cut the connection, and Morgana shook his head as he felt the presence in his head leave. Hikaru sighed, feeling somewhat drained.

“Can you help with that, Merlin?” The Persona nodded. It felt strange, Hikaru thought, that he was so in tune with his Persona. Merlin felt like him, but stronger. So much stronger. Then again, that’s how it should be, shouldn’t it?

But it feels like he’s too used to this. Like he has done this multiple times before, like it’s an instinct to use a Persona as he has. The Awakening felt fresh and new, but after that, it was just normal. It feels… like nothing special. Like it comes naturally. That’s how it is, but…

Hikaru ran a hand through his hair. It didn’t matter. All that matters right now is just to do his best in helping the team. Just, that’s all he needs to do…

~~~

The next day at school, Ryuji pulled him aside at lunch. Ryuji approached him as he left the class to buy lunch and asked him to follow him. Hikaru just followed, not really minding it. He followed Ryuji to the rooftop, where no one was.

“So, what’s up?” Ryuji seemed bashful, if anything. There was a moment of awkward silence.

“I’m sorry!” Ryuji exclaimed suddenly with a bow. Hikaru raised an eyebrow in confusion. “…For?”

“I’m going to be honest with you. All this while since first year, I was quick to judge you based on your attitude and your social status. I wasn’t in a good mindset, especially after the incident with my leg, and I kind of lashed that anger out on you. You were rich, had everything, and seemed standoffish, so I just used you as a way to vent my anger. Plus, you had influence and didn’t do anything about Kamoshida, but I didn’t think about your circumstances. I’m sorry.” Ryuji’s voice became softer as he went on, becoming but a mutter by the end.

Hikaru’s face remained impassive, staring at the blond. Ryuji felt sweat trickle down his neck but remained bowing. It was interrupted later by Hikaru’s laughter. Wait, laughter?

“Oh, Ryuji. I never blamed you for any of that, you know?” Ryuji looked up in shock at the flushed heir. “Wait, what?”

Hikaru placed his hands on Ryuji’s shoulders. “I never blamed you. I wasn’t in a great mindset myself, and I didn’t really leave a good impression on anyone. You don’t see me blaming everyone for starting rumors of this cold rich kid who treats people like trash, do you?”

The blond nodded slowly, eyes still wide.

“So, what are you apologizing for? You never needed to, especially now that we’re in this mess together. We’re teammates now, aren’t we?” Ryuji’s eyes watered slightly, but he wiped them off, a shaky smile on his face. “Yeah. Teammates.”

“If that’s all, I need to get lunch. I’m starving, and I think you are too,” Hikaru added with a laugh, and with Ryuji’s nod, made his way towards the stairs.

“Hey, Hikaru!”

The brunet turned, hearing Ryuji call his name. The delinquent had a huge smile on his face. “Thank you.”

Hikaru returned one as well, feeling something tug in his mind. “Anytime, Ryuji.”

~~~

“Hey, Hikaru!”

The heir was sitting on one of the couches in the hotel, waiting for his friends to arrive. They had agreed on celebrating at the buffet here, using a large amount but not all of the profit from the medal. He looked over as Ann and Akira approached, Morgana in his bag.

“Hey. Where’s Ryuji?” The two shrugged, and Hikaru pulled out his phone to message said delinquent.

**_HA:_ ** _yo fam where u at_

**_RS:_ ** _chill gimme like 5 mins max ok im at the station_

**_HA:_ ** _everyone’s here hurry tf up_

Ever since the encounter on the rooftop, it felt like the tension between them dissolved into nothing. The two became very informal very quickly, especially in their texts, and jokingly swore at each other.

“He said he’ll be here in 5.” Akira nodded, taking a seat beside the heir. Ann sat across the two. The group fell into a comfortable silence, just relaxing while waiting for Ryuji. Before long, the blond showed up.

“Yo! Sorry I’m late!” The boy arrived with a grin. The group got up at his arrival and entered the restaurant. Immediately, some of the people scrunched their noses at seeing the casually dressed teenagers enter the prestigious restaurant. Whispers began breaking out, but the group continued undeterred.

The restaurant itself was extravagant, but not so that the group stood out too much. It was just slightly on the higher class, not entirely formal. Hikaru thought that this place was affordable as well as delicious, so this was where the group decided.

“Ooh, I want to try the meat platter, look at that!” Ryuji exclaimed, mouth slightly watering. His stomach grumbled just thinking about all that meat. Meanwhile, Ann was doing the same, but at the desserts section. Akira took a glance at the rice and noodles section himself, while Hikaru just chuckled at his friends. It’s so nice to see all of them excited.

“Go ham. I’ll be right here. Just help me grab something, I’ll eat anything.” With the heir’s words, the group split, each going to grab a plate of food. Hikaru was left with Morgana in Akira’s bag, who seemed to be trying to get his attention. Hikaru reached out with his mind, and with Merlin’s help, read Morgana’s thoughts. Morgana felt Hikaru touch his mind and asked him a question.

_Aren’t you hungry? You can go too, I’ll watch the stuff._

_“No need to worry, Mona. I’ll be fine. I had a late breakfast at home today. How about you, you need me to get some fish?”_ Hikaru added a chuckle at seeing Morgana wriggle in Akira’s bag. He couldn’t let the cat out in fear of others noticing it and possibly kicking them out.

_Later, maybe. I’ll ask Akira. By the way, shouldn’t you tell the others about your Persona powers?_

_“Later, when we’re not in a public place. They might let something slip.”_

_Just know that when you do, it’s going to be a mess._

_“Oh, I know.”_

~~~

Hikaru followed as Ann went to grab more cakes. Ann grabbed a bunch of different flavored cakes: brownies, chocolate, cheesecake, crepe cake, all of the bunch. Hikaru just grabbed a slice of red velvet cake for himself.

“Ah!” Hikaru heard Ann yell as she ran into another woman. The cake on her plate fell onto the lady’s dress, staining it with the cream. “I’m so sorry, are you okay, miss?”

“My dress!” The lady yelled, which drew the attention of the people around. “This was expensive! How dare you?! You useless teenagers, you don’t deserve to be here!” Ann backed up, apologizing profusely. The woman was fuming, raising her hand to slap the girl. Hikaru quickly intervened, grabbing the woman’s wrist.

“I’m sorry, miss, is there an issue?” The woman turned around, about to yell at Hikaru for grabbing her, but then noticed who she was actually talking to. She immediately covered her mouth with her other hand, taking a step back. Hikaru's eyes narrowed, a frown on his face. “I think you had something to say to my friend here, didn’t you?”

“O-oh, no, Aozora-san. I’m sorry to interrupt you, I must get going now!” With that, the lady quickly ran away, leaving murmurs and whispers all around them. Hikaru grabbed Ann’s hand and pulled her away, outside the restaurant and towards the lobby of the hotel.

“You alright?” Ann nodded, seemingly slightly dazed. Hikaru sat beside the girl, placing a hand on her back. He didn’t blame her, seeing as she just recovered from Kamoshida’s abuse. He definitely didn’t miss the flinch when the woman was yelling at her. “We can stay here for a while, alright?”

The two stayed there for a moment in silence, before Ann got up and smiled at the brunet. “Thank you for that, Hikaru. We should go back to the others now; they’re going to be worried.”

“If you say so.” The duo returned into the restaurant, arriving at their seat the same time as Ryuji and Akira, who were looking pissed themselves. “This stupid dude thinks he owns the place, just because he’s some rich dude!”

“What happened?” Hikaru questioned, taking a seat and slowly eating some leftover meat from Ryuji’s pile earlier. Ryuji slumped into his seat next to Hikaru, letting out a deep, angry breath.

“We were walking out of the toilets when we ran into some dude by the elevators. He just shoved us out of the way and didn’t even apologize! The nerve of some people!” Akira nodded in agreement, eyes unfocused. Ann then shared her own story.

“I was getting some cake and accidentally ran into this lady. I apologized and everything, but she just started yelling about teenagers and everything. It would’ve escalated further had Hikaru not been there to defuse the situation.” Ann ran a hand through her curly locks, eyes focusing elsewhere. The boys looked at her in concern, and glanced over to Hikaru, who shook his head slightly.

“I’m sick of this.” Akira’s statement caught everyone’s attention. Everyone looked up at their leader. “I’m sick of corrupt people thinking that they’re in charge of the world. We can change this, can’t we?”

“Yeah! If we could do something about Kamoshida, who’s to say how many more people we could help out there in the world?” Ryuji smirked at that. Hope began gathering in the group’s eyes, hope that society isn’t doomed yet. They could still make a change.

“Well, this is pointless, I’m guessing everyone agrees, but we’re continuing this, right?” Everyone agreed with Akira. It was unanimous, everyone wanted to continue. They were blessed with the power of Persona, it would be a shame not to use it to make a change.

“Hold it. If we go any further, we need a name. Something people can know us by,” Hikaru suggested. The group fell into a pensive silence at that, thinking about a good group name. “We’ll also need a leader, no?”

“I nominate Akira.” “Same here.” The man in question looked at the two blondes incredulously, and then at the heir. The brunet grinned, staring at Akira. “Well, that’s decided.”

“Why me, though? I thought Hikaru would make more sense, seeing as he basically gives commands in battle, doesn’t he?” Hikaru shook his head, crossing his arms.

“I think you should be the leader too, Akira. After all, none of us would have found that world if it wasn’t for you.” The others agreed, and Akira couldn’t refute that. He sighed, scratching the back of his neck. “Fine. But Hikaru’s going to be second in command, alright?”

“Well, I thought that was a given. Who else would you put in charge, Ryuji? Mona, maybe.” Ann teased. Ryuji let out an indignant noise, but otherwise ignored her.

“How about the Phantoms, then? For our name? Just to keep it simple?” Another easy agreement.

“It’s smooth, better than what I wanted to suggest. Plus, quite to the point.”

“Oh please, we’ve seen your creativity with names, Ryuji.”

“Hey, I’m not that bad, right Hikaru?!”

“…No comment.”

“Hey!!”

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_AK:_ ** _Serious business only here, ok?_

**_HA:_ ** _you named the group chat that u think this gonna be serious?_

**_AT:_ ** _Im so used to seeing Hikaru text properly that I feel so weird seeing him like this_

**_HA:_ ** _Why? Would you rather me text like this, Panther?_

**_RS:_ ** _ok yea that’s hella weird dude_

**_HA:_ ** _lmao_

**_HA:_ ** _i type like this to people i know well and given our experiences i would like to say im close to yall_

**_AK:_ ** _Ok ok children calm down, I told u serious business only. Mona said he wanted to show us something tomorrow, so meet tmr. Now go sleep nerds_

**_RS:_ ** _but it’s a holiday, mom_

**_HA:_ ** _yo ryuji wanna play league_

**_RS:_ ** _hell yea the new champ’s out_

**_AT:_ ** _Oh no Hikaru why_

**_AK:_ ** _Not even half a day and I’m already tired of yall_

**_AK:_ ** _I want a new team_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to address this, but I'm using Akira as the protag's name, because I like it more. Also, the powers thing sounded cool to me, so I included it. It doesn't have much plot relevance, though, only in some parts. You won't see some fancy display of magic in the real world.


	11. Mementos and Suspicions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We start a new arc.

“God, I’m tired!”

Ryuji slumped against Hikaru, causing the heir to let out a soft ‘oomph’ as the delinquent leaned on him heavily. Hikaru let out a small chuckle, feeling slightly tired himself. Ann let out a small yawn as well, shaking her head to wake herself up.

“I told you all to sleep and rest, but noo, don’t listen to me and play games all night,” Akira teased in a sarcastic tone, causing Ryuji to roll his eyes.

“You would play too if you had a computer, don’t lie.” Akira stayed silent at that, rolling his eyes but not denying the statement.

The group was gathered outside by Shibuya Station, in casual clothing, at Morgana’s request. Hikaru himself was dressed in a comfortable hooded tee, with skinny jeans and sneakers on. Ann was looking at her phone, scrolling through the Phantom Aficionado Website that Mishima had set up.

“Hey, we’re actually somewhat popular enough that people are sending requests. Makes me feel all special,” Ann joked, reading through the few requests present.

“That’s part of why we’re here. Here, open the MetaNav.” Morgana crawled out of Akira’s bag, jumping onto the leader’s shoulder. The boy did as asked, pulling out his phone and opening the app.

“Are we going to a Palace?” Ann asked, and Morgana smirked. He let out a small laugh, stretching his body. “Well, not exactly, Lady Ann. We’re going to a Palace, yes, but not what you’re used to. Akira, type in Mementos.”

_“Target Found. Beginning navigation.”_

“Wait, that’s it? I thought we needed keywords?” Ryuji brought up a good point. For Kamoshida, albeit accidentally, Akira and Ryuji had found his keywords. Morgana smirked, now in his Metaverse form. The Thieves, however, kept their casual outfits. “Not for Mementos. Mementos is the public’s Palace.”

“So the public’s Palace is a subway station?” Hikaru asked, looking around. It looked like Shibuya Station if it was slightly corrupted and had goop all across its walls and floors. Strange red lines were all over the place, in a design that seemed arcane. Other than that, it looked normal. Once they stepped through the ticket counter, however, their clothes turned into their Metaverse gear.

“What do you mean by that?” Panther asked, stretching. She looked down at herself, making sure that her outfit was on right, and that all her equipment was on her.

“Well, it’s part of the collective unconscious. It’s the unconscious desires of those who are still not strong enough to develop an entire Palace to themselves. That’s why it’s a subway station, as most people use it and will therefore be able to have some kind of perception of this place. In Mementos, we’ll be able to change the hearts of the less severe cases,” Mona added, and Sky could see the lightbulb go off in Skull’s eyes.

“Oh, so we can change the hearts of the requests on the website here!” Mona grinned, nodding. Joker then brought up a decent question. “Uh, if this is the public’s Palace, won’t this place be like, I don’t know, fucking _massive_?”

“Yes! There are many levels to Mementos, even I don’t know how far it goes! It’s also an actual subway station, so…” Mona took a step back, and did a sentai pose before leaping into the air. “Transform!”

“What the fuck?” Sky couldn’t keep the disbelief in his voice. The rest of the Phantom Thieves were speechless. The cat somehow turned into a van, able to fit a decent amount of people in the back. “Ta-da! Well, get in!”

“Uh, who’s driving the Mona van?” Joker asked, and all eyes turned towards him. He sighed, rolling his eyes. “Fine. Sky, get in the front. I drove once in a video game, that’s it. You asked for this.”

“Oh yikes,” Sky muttered to himself, getting in the front seat. Skull and Panther clambered into the backseat, leaning against the armrest to look through the front. Joker got in beside him, and the Mona van started with a meow. Panther let out a small giggle at that, and the Phantom Thieves were off.

~~~

Mementos. The twisted desire of society as a whole. This was portrayed as a subway system, where Shadows from the Sea of Souls are commonplace. They take the form of faceless shades, unlike the guards found in Kamoshida’s Palace.

Considering that this was the distorted view of multiple people, the place was rather… peaceful. Aside from a few wandering Shadows, it was deserted, with no one in the empty tunnels throughout Mementos. Well, until now. A large black van sped through one of the tunnels, its occupants loud as they screamed bloody murder. So loud that they didn’t notice a Shadow right around the corner until they ran straight into it and killed it in one go.

“Oh fuck!”

“Joker, what the FUCK?!”

“Hey, Skull? Shut up.”

“Oh god, at least tell me when you plan to run over a Shadow. That was disgusting, to say the least.”

“Shut up!! Someone switch with me, I’m gonna puke sitting at the front.”

“I need navigation, Sky! Plus, my driving isn’t that bad!”

“Turn right ahead, Joker. Wait, watch it-”

“JOKER!!”

“Oh. Well, at least we didn’t need to fight it?”

“…Fine. Will you two shut up at the back?!”  
  


~~~

“Fuck me…” Sky muttered, tumbling out of the car. The van was in front of a portal into a secluded realm, a small area that could grow into a Palace if unchecked. They were here to steal the heart of Natsuhiko Nakanohara, a stalker who was following the person who sent the request. It seemed easy enough.

“Okay, Joker, what the hell? You ran over two different Shadows and almost crashed the car!” Panther complained. The boy in question shrugged, to which the girl groaned and rolled her eyes. Mona returned to his cat form, anger clear on his face. “Yeah! I don’t think I consented to this, Joker!”

“Alright, eyes up front,” Joker commanded, using his Joker voice, turning to face the Shadow in front of them. The group stopped joking, faces hardening at seeing the smirk Shadow Nakanohara was giving them. He chuckled, releasing a dark aura. Panther was the first to speak. “So, you’re that stalker that can’t leave that girl alone, huh?”

“She did the same to me, and you’re letting her off?! What a load of shit!” The Shadow growled, baring its teeth. The aura grew, but the Thieves don’t flinch back. Skull growled in anger. “That doesn’t mean you get to be an asshole!”

“Yeah? Madarame ruined my life, so why don’t you change his heart, if you’re all so great?!” Sky faltered, having heard that name before. Madarame? It was familiar, but he had no time to think about it right now. The Shadow screamed, transforming into its true form, a small red imp.

“All right, Phantom Thieves! Battle formation: Full Power!” The Thieves snapped into action. Skull and Panther summoned their Personas, charging forward. Mona climbed onto Joker’s shoulder, aligning his shot with his leader’s pistol. Behind them all, Sky stood with his Persona, eyes glowing blue. He scanned the Shadow, exposing weaknesses and strengths for the team. “Skull, go ham! You’ve got advantage!”

“Got it, Sky! Captain Kidd!” The captain charged up his cannon. Electricity gathered, causing the smell of ozone to permeate the air. Skull grinned, giving the signal to his Persona. “Fire!”

The beam of electricity burst from the cannon, hitting the imp straight on. It let out a pained shriek, the electricity paralyzing it and making it fall onto its face. The group took the opportunity to strike while its weak, rushing in to get as many hits off while the Shadow is disoriented.

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_HA:_ ** _akira let me relieve you of driving duty, ok?_

**_AK:_ ** _Look here, I did my best ok? You try driving with no experience!_

**_AT:_ ** _anyways, did Mishima update you, Akira?_

**_AK:_ ** _Not yet, but he probably will soon_

**_RS:_ ** _on other news anybody wanna help me study? exams start next week_

**_RS:_ ** _im in the usual diner in shibuya_

**_HA:_ ** _lol I’m on my way u definitely need help_

**_HA:_ ** _akira come too so I don’t get sidetracked by ryuji_

**_AT:_ ** _Oh fuck I forgot about exams I’m coming_

**_AK:_ ** _Be there in 10_

**_RS:_ ** _god bless_

~~~

“Hikaru, do you just not need to study?”

“Hmm?” The heir hummed, half-listening to the conversation. He was talking to Merlin in his head, occasionally asking Morgana some stupid topics that came to mind. The cat just hissed at him, the heir grinning at Morgana’s reaction. He just answered any questions the group has on the schoolwork, bringing out his own books and notes for them to refer to.

“Oh, well, not really. I remember things a lot more easily than other people, so I don’t really need to review or study, since I still remember most of the content. I study for bigger tests, like year-end tests, but aside from that, not really.” The others stare at him in envy, causing the heir to shrug.

“Look, I just can’t help it if I don’t care about the dude who invented some word, or if this building is built with whatever ratio or not, okay?” Ryuji groaned, slamming his face on the desk. Hikaru chuckled, scooting over to read the crude notes Ryuji made in class. The brunet pulled over his notes from under Ann’s worksheets, handing it over to the delinquent. “Here, use these. It’ll be better for you anyway.”

“You’re a lifesaver,” Ryuji muttered, fanning out the sheets of notes and hoping his brain would just absorb the content in front of him. The heir laughed. “Well, that’s what I do, in and out of combat.”

“Hikaru, what am I doing wrong here?” Ann asked, turning her workbook towards the boy. He hummed, circling mistakes and redoing the problem on a random piece of paper, handing it over for Ann to reference. The girl nodded her thanks, focusing her attention back on the problems on the worksheet.

The group studied silently, someone occasionally asking either Hikaru or Akira a question regarding the content. It wasn’t long before the night crawled up on them, and exhaustion from the Mementos exploration set in. Ryuji’s yawn interrupted the silence, signaling the end of their study session. Ann yawned as well, closing her books. “All right, I think that’s a good place to end it. I’m pooped.”

“We should be going too, shouldn’t we?” Morgana spoke up for the first time, and Akira agreed. The group got up and paid for their drinks and decided to break for the night.

~~~

“I can tell you seem miserable.” It was after the first day of exams, and Ryuji sat with a dejected look on his face. He groaned, dragging his hands down his face, leaning back against the railing of the rooftop. The Phantom Thieves were gathered here, just to talk about exams and their possible future as a group.

“So, how did you do, Ann? I know you’re not the best at math and science,” Hikaru brought up, and the girl groaned as well.

“I don’t know which teacher decided the exam schedule. Who puts math and science on the same day? It’s as if they’re trying to kill us.”

Akira and Hikaru watched as the two blonds bounced complaint and complaint off of each other. The duo sighed, glancing at each other. Hikaru rolled his eyes, making Akira chuckle. This caught the attention of the others, who turned to glare at the straight-A students. Hikaru raised an eyebrow, a cocky grin on his face. He didn’t need to see Akira’s face to know that the same was on his face.

The rooftop doorway opened, catching the attention of the gathered Thieves. They turned to see the student council president, Makoto Niijima, entering. Immediately, their guards were up.

“You all do know that the school rooftop is off-limits for students, right?”

“What do you want, Miss Prez?” Ryuji asked defensively, causing the girl to direct her stare at him. She blinked, an impassive look on her face. She then turned towards everyone, finally landing on Hikaru. A look of confusion crawled on her face, being quickly replaced by the stony look earlier.

The Thieves, on the other hand, weren’t exactly subtle about their distaste for her. Excluding Hikaru, they all had varying looks of distaste or apprehension. Hikaru, on the other hand, looked at her with pity. After all, he knew why she was here, as unlikely as it seems. Principal Kobayakawa definitely didn’t wait to play his cards.

“Nothing, it’s just… such an interesting gathering. The school delinquent, the new transfer student, the girl subject to Kamoshida’s advances, and the heir to one of the largest corporations in Japan…” Makoto muttered. The others narrowed their eyes, not liking the implication behind the president’s words. Hikaru got up, sighing, and walked towards Makoto. He whispered something into her ear, and a look of urgency overcame her features. She glanced one final look and turned away. The others looked at each other, then back at Hikaru. The heir smirked, shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, what did you say? You can’t leave us hanging like this, Hikaru,” Ann exclaimed, and the group agreed. Hikaru laughed, however, shaking his head. “That’s personal, but don’t worry, she’ll be off the trail for a while. Meanwhile, however.” The group gathered closer.

“You all need to be careful with your words. Especially you, Ryuji,” which caused an indignant cry from said delinquent. “The fact that she’s on to us means that the school’s on to us. Principal Kobayakawa isn’t ashamed of using Makoto to investigate the rumors about these Phantom Thieves, so keep your eyes out, and your mouths shut, okay? He’s probably going to ask me next, but I’ll give all of you a head’s up. Alright?” Everyone’s eyes gleamed with determination.

“We still need another target, do we not?” Akira brought up, to which everyone agreed. “How about Principal Kobayakawa?” Everyone seemed to agree, but Hikaru shook his head.

“No. That would just bring the attention of the police and media to Shujin as the source of the Phantom Thieves. I have influence, but not that much influence. Sadly, we can’t change his heart without being caught or be very suspicious. Plus, he isn’t doing much right now, so there’s no reason for it, at least now.” Hikaru explained. He crossed his arms. “On the other hand, I was more interested in what the dude in Mementos said.”

“The guy who said something about a Madarame?” Ann asked, and Hikaru nodded.

“The only Madarame I found that fit would be one Ichiryusai Madarame. Sound familiar?” Ryuji and Ann seemed confused, whereas Akira nodded. “The artist?”

“The one and only. Ichiryusai Madarame is one of the most famous visual artists in Japan, well known for his traditional art style that represents the country’s elements. But under that are rumors and conspiracies of plagiarism and abuse of his students. It’s up to you guys if you want to try, but I would advise waiting a bit if you want. There’s going to be an art exhibit hosted by Madarame coming up, and I can do some recon if needed.”

“I agree with Hikaru. We shouldn’t be too hasty. We should take our time between targets, and come to a consensus together,” Morgana added. The cat slinked out of the bag, jumping into Ann’s lap. The girl stroked the cat lovingly, causing it to purr.

“Alright, that should be all for today, then. We’ll meet up later, after exams. Hikaru, can you tell us a date for this exhibit? We could try to go in and gather info.” The group nodded and went home to rest and study for the next day’s exams on a bright mood at discovering a possible target.

~~~

“Yo, Hikaru, you won’t believe this!” Ann yelled as she stormed into the classroom, catching the attention of all the students inside. Akira was right behind her, snickering from the events that transpired. Hikaru just hummed from his seat, not even looking up at the commotion caused as he read a book.

“So, I ran into this weird stalker who told me that I was really pretty, which is really weird, but then he asked to be his model for his art! At this point, we were basically really confused, but we just went with it, you know, and guess what I got!” Hikaru hummed as Ann went on, closing his book and looking up at the excited girl. At this point, she had reduced her volume, and other students turned back to their seats.

“During the moment itself, it was kinda scary, but now that I look back on it, it was hilarious. Ann looked so weirded out when the dude asked her to be his model, not like her phone number or something,” Akira added, laughing slightly. Ann smacked his shoulder, not stopping his chuckles in the lightest.

“So, what did you get?” Hikaru brought up. Ann pulled something out of her bag. “Ta-da!”

Ann pulled out 3 tickets, on each printed ‘Ichiryusai Madarame: An Endless Font of Ideas’, and an image of Madarame’s most famous painting, Sayuri. Hikaru hummed in amazement, eyes slightly widening. Well, at least he won’t be alone in the exhibit. “Nice. Guess I’ll see you there, then.”

“Wait, we only got 3 tickets in total…” Ann said, confused, but Hikaru chuckled, pulling out his own ticket.

“Ann, you’re forgetting that my family runs one of the largest media companies in the world. I can get into anywhere I want as long as I get media clearance.”

“Well then, it seems tomorrow will be our day to relax after exams,” Akira said, moving into his seat. Ann groaned, the reality of exams hitting her again. She sank into her seat just as Kawakami entered, exam papers in her hand.

~~~

Hikaru knocked on the door and entered when given the signal.

“You called for me, Principal?”

“Ah yes, Aozora-kun. May I ask you something?”

Hikaru crossed his arms, resting his weight on one foot. He could see that the principal seemed upset, and he could easily guess why. “Of course, Principal. How may I help you?”

“I would like to ask you about these rumors that have arisen within the school. I have heard about these ‘Phantom Thieves’, who apparently were the ones who ‘stole’ Mr. Kamoshida’s heart. Do you know anything about it?”

“That depends, Principal. Why are you asking?” The principal scratched the back of his neck, sweating slightly in the stuffy office. Hikaru could hear his breathing become uneven under the heir’s stare.

“An acquaintance of mine has been curious about these rumors and is investigating Kamoshida’s case. They would like to interview some students about the topic, and about these supposed ‘Phantom Thieves’. Since you are here, I would like you to act as a representative, if you don’t mind,” Kobayakawa stammered, eyes not meeting Hikaru’s stare. Clearly, he was lying.

Hikaru let out a curious hum, not saying anything. The principal seemed to curl up under the fierce stare and silence of the heir. “O-of course, if you would not like to, that is fine. I am also asking for personal curiosity as well. One of the students approached me with concern, and I asked the council president to look into it. I was hoping if you could help too…” The room remained silent as Kobayakawa waited anxiously for Hikaru’s answer.

“I’ll see what I can do, Principal. Is that all?” With a small nod, Hikaru was dismissed. He turned and left the office, not dropping the confidence in his stance until he was far past the office. He felt the presence in his mind sigh.

“You heard that? I’ll leave the coordination to you, Joker.”

_“Loud and clear, Sky. Good job. We’ll keep an eye out.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you enjoyed!


	12. The Artist's Palace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for Madarame.

“You sure you’ll be fine?” Akira asked, the concern clear on his face. Ann nodded, looking over to Yusuke, who was waiting for her.

“It’s just him showing me around the exhibition. I’ll be fine,” Ann whispered and turned over to meet Yusuke. She exchanged greetings, and the two of them entered the exhibition. Akira and Ryuji stayed outside, staring at the large number of people that had shown up. He knew that Madarame was famous, but _this_ famous?

“What are you two waiting for?” Akira and Ryuji jumped, hearing Hikaru’s voice right beside their ears. They turned around to see Hikaru right behind them, arms behind his back. Hikaru could see the hesitance in their eyes, and while not too sure why, he decided to respect it. “Do you want to sit this out?”

“If you don’t mind, yeah. I don’t really feel comfortable in such a large crowd,” Akira explained, looking down. “I’ll stay with him. The fine arts aren’t my kind of thing, anyway,” Ryuji added.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to. At the very least, try to get a glimpse of Madarame. He’s here today. Do you want me to take the cat bag?” Akira handed him the bag, a small meow coming from inside. Hikaru slid the bag onto his shoulder and made his way into the exhibit. At the entrance, he was greeted himself by Madarame, a small crowd right behind the artist.

“Ah, what a surprise, Aozora-san. Have you come in your father’s stead?” The old man reached out a hand, which Hikaru shook. Business smiles stretched across both their faces, the contact between them feeling like electricity. “Of course, Madarame-san. I am here not for business purposes, so you don’t have to worry about any questions.”

Madarame looked suspicious but said nothing. Hikaru kept his face passive. “Well, enjoy the exhibit. If you would like, I could introduce you to my apprentice later.”

“That would be appreciated. I would love to meet your disciple. I have heard great things about him under your tutelage.” Of course, Hikaru knew everything he needed. The Aozoras knew everything and are the pioneers in information gathering. This was all just a formality, a warning.

Madarame knew what Hikaru was insinuating, and he didn’t deny it. After all, Aozora Media Works takes a neutral stance and delivers the truth. Anything that isn’t backed up with substantial evidence would be refuted and would ruin the company’s prestige and value. They simply didn’t have the evidence needed on Madarame to shut him down. The Aozora could not take down these people, whose crimes cannot be proved.

But the Phantom Thieves? It’s free game.

Hikaru parted, wandering around the exhibit. The art pieces were amazing, truly a masterpiece, each and every one. It filled him with a sense of melancholy, seeing such beautiful artwork, taken from the people who have made them. And no one knew the wiser. A frown grew on his face.

“Ah, this was the piece I wanted to see!” Hikaru turned his attention towards the familiar voice. It was Ann, with a blue-haired boy. Hikaru identified him as Kitagawa Yusuke, the current pupil of Madarame. He stayed close as the two continued talking, eavesdropping as he blended into the background.

“…This piece?” Yusuke’s hesitation caught Hikaru’s attention. It seemed as if the boy knew something was up. Ann continued cheerfully, not noticing Yusuke’s internal struggle. “Yeah! It just looks so… angry. Like the artist just released all his anger and frustration onto the canvas. Hard to imagine Madarame as that kind of person, huh…”

“Ah, Yusuke!” The two turned, seeing said artist approaching. “I would like you to meet someone. Miss, if you don’t mind…”

“Oh, not at all!” Ann exclaimed, waving her hands. “It’s totally fine!” Hikaru decided to enter the conversation there.

“Ah, is this your pupil, Madarame-san?” Ann’s eyes shot up to him at Hikaru’s voice, mouth slightly ajar. Hikaru gave her a subtle wink.

“Yusuke, let me introduce you to our VIP for today, Aozora-san. This is my disciple, Kitagawa Yusuke.” Hikaru reached a hand out, a smile on his face. Yusuke returned the gesture, shaking his hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Aozora-san.”

“A pleasure meeting you too, Kitagawa-kun. I hope you’re doing well.” The blue-haired boy nodded. “Anyway, I must get going, I have matters to attend to. Thank you so much for your hospitality, Madarame-san. I will come at a later day to do a formal interview. It is truly a pleasure to view _your_ work in all its glory,” Hikaru said with exaggeration and thinly-veiled sarcasm, causing Yusuke to avert his eyes.

“Thank you for coming, and I wish you the best.” At that, Hikaru left the conversation, heading for the exit. He could feel the artist’s eyes on him, almost staring a hole into his head. He heard Morgana let out a small meow, and his mind dived into his thoughts.

_He seemed fine? A normal old man?_

_“Don’t judge a book by its cover, Mona,”_ Hikaru thought. He felt for the cat’s approval, and with one last glance at the exhibit, left to go find Akira and Ryuji.

~~~

“Hey, you guys left me there!” Ann complained as she met with the three boys. Ryuji had told her that they were a little distance away, as the area around the exhibit was too cramped. The group was closer to the station, around the Station Square. The sky was already getting dark.

“So? How was it?” Akira asked, letting Morgana stick his head out of the bag.

“Madarame seemed like just a nice old man. He was kind and everything,” Ann began, doubt creeping on her face.

“Yeah, but you can’t judge a book by its cover,” Hikaru finished, which Ann hesitantly nodded to. Morgana continued, “Yeah. He was acting really strange with Hikaru earlier, especially during his greeting.”

Ryuji pulled out his phone and pulled something up. He showed it to Ann, the screen on the Phan-Site.

“Here, look. Someone posted a request about Madarame.” Ann glanced at the screen, quickly reading the post. She gasped when she finished. “Abuse? Plagiarism? So it’s true?”

“Sadly. We should look into this some more, though. The Aozoras aren’t foolproof; it’s good to double-check facts. Can we meet Yusuke-kun soon?” Hikaru asked Ann, to which the girl nodded. She pulled out her phone, opening her contacts. “Kitagawa-kun gave me his number, so I can tell him that we can go over… tomorrow after school? Is that fine with everyone?”

Ann received nods around, and Akira got up. “Well, that’s that. Just get some sleep tonight, okay? I feel like tomorrow’s going to be something.”

“Isn’t that always the case?” Akira rolled his eyes at Hikaru’s comment.

~~~

“Are you sure this is the place?” Akira questioned, his eyes on the shack that looks like it could fall apart any time. The wood was discolored, with a tin roof. It looked out of place in the modern neighborhood filled with concrete houses with fresh paint.

“Well, it does say ‘Madarame’ on the plate…” Ryuji added, the confusion on his face not vanishing.

“Yeah, it’s the right place.” The others looked at him, unsure. Hikaru nodded, since he has been here before with his father. That was how he knew the artist, after all. “I’ve been here before, it doesn’t seem like much.”

Ann approached the door, ringing the doorbell. _“Who is it?”_

“Uhh, it’s Takamaki…” Ann muttered, nervous.

 _“Oh, I’ll be right there.”_ The line hanged up. The footsteps towards the door were quick and rushed, and the door burst open, Yusuke appeared with excited eyes.

“I’m so glad-oh, you two are here…” Yusuke grumbled, eyes narrowing when he saw Ryuji and Akira. It then turned into confusion upon seeing Hikaru with them.

“Aozora-san? Can I help you?”

“Yes. Can I ask you some questions?” Hikaru got straight to the chase. Everyone seemed taken aback at Hikaru’s straightforward approach, but Yusuke nodded. “Of course, how may I help you?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but how is living with Madarame? There have been some… rumors about Madarame’s tutelage. I’m sure you’ve heard of these.” Yusuke’s face twisted at Hikaru’s words.

“I have, and I can attest that they are just that: rumors. Madarame has treated me kindly and took me in as a child when my mother has passed. He is the sole reason as to why I am here today.” Ryuji stepped in, frustration on his face.

“Dude, you sure? There’s been talk of abuse and plagiarism, man. You can tell us, you know,” Ryuji added, causing Yusuke to frown in distaste. He scoffed, which Ryuji frowned at. “How dare you? I have already told you that Madarame had saved my life and gave me a second chance. If he wanted to abuse me, why would he save my life?”

“I don’t know, you might be lying!” Ryuji argued, to which Yusuke laughed at. He was about to add more, but Akira grabbed the blond’s shoulder, shaking his head. It wouldn’t end well if it went on like this.

“Yusuke? Who’s at the door?” Speaking of the devil. The old artist sauntered over, hands behind his back. His face was impassive, hands behind his back. His eyes slightly narrowed at seeing Hikaru at his door.

“Aozora-san? You do know that you shouldn’t be here?” Madarame said, and Hikaru sighed. Part of being so powerful as an Aozora means that he is restrained in terms of special conditions. One of those is that the Aozoras need clearance in order to conduct an interview, but most people ignore this rule or just give it a pass. After all, an Aozora interview is considered an honor, due to the amount of public attention it gives.

The Thieves looked at him, the question clear in their eyes. Hikaru sighed, walking away from the conversation and crossing the road. Akira looked concerned but turned back to the conversation at hand. Yusuke, sensing that everything was fine, spoke up.

“Sensei, these people are spreading false rumors about you,” Yusuke reported, anger clear in his features. Madarame laughed slightly, calming Yusuke down and causing confusion from the Thieves.

“Calm down, Yusuke. They must just be worried about their friend, after hearing some nasty rumors. I am famous, and therefore will warrant some hateful comments from some. It’s fine, but do keep it down, if you could? I do have neighbors…” The man replied. The Thieves were taken aback by his calmness at dealing with their attacks. Madarame left them, heading back into the shack.

“Well, you heard him. I will be busy for the rest of the day helping Sensei, so I’m sorry for wasting your time, Takamaki-san. I would mostly be free the next few days, so anytime in that timeframe should be fine, with some prior notification. I need to go now, so I bid you all farewell.” Yusuke said quickly, closing the door as he left, leaving them outside the shack.

Akira sighed, walking over to the other side of the road to where Hikaru was. He leaned on the railing, pulling out his phone and tapping something on it. The group followed, Ryuji sitting down on the ground.

“What was that about, Hikaru?” Ryuji asked, looking at the heir.

“It’s a condition the government created. Since we hold so much power as a media company, we have to accommodate them, to make sure that there’s a power balance in the country. Otherwise, we as a company would be able to topple the government as it is, and that won’t help at all.” Hikaru explained.

“That’s…a large pressure, isn’t it?” Ann asked, glancing over in concern.

“It is, but there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s like giving too much power to the people, you know?” Hikaru leaned against the railing, looking at the house across the street.

“Anyways, that aside, are you sure that Madarame’s your dude? He seemed normal…” Ann muttered, eyes averted. “I don’t want to hurt some kind, old man…”

“Yeah. He didn’t seem to be some asshole like Kamoshida, who used people and drove Shiho to…” Ryuji trailed off, glancing at Ann cautiously. The girl gave him a confident smile, slightly nodding. She was stronger than that.

“ _Target found.”_

The group’s eyes snapped open, turning over to Akira, who had an eyebrow raised. A small smile grew on his face, as he typed something in.

“Wait, so Madarame has a Palace? Really?” Ann gasped out, leaning over to look at Akira’s phone. Ryuji did the same, while Hikaru stayed silent, opposite of the trio.

“I typed in Madarame’s name, and it was positive. I tried entering ‘shack’ as the other keyword, and it was a hit as well. Now all we need is a distortion, right?” Akira said. Morgana nodded. “Just try some random guesses, we’ll hit it eventually.”

“It won’t be ‘castle’, right?” Ann started, receiving a negative response. Ryuji then began throwing ideas out. “Uh, prison! Warehouse! I don’t know, exhibit?” All negative responses. Hikaru closed his eyes and took a deep breath amidst Ryuji’s random guesses.

“Museum.”

_“Target found, beginning navigation.”_

_~~~_

“Oh wow, it’s huge,” was the heir’s first response. Then he noticed the actual design of it. It was a huge skyscraper shaped like one would assume a top-class museum would look like: asymmetrical, weird shapes and forms sticking out of it. It was entirely gold, with banners saying “The Great Artist Madarame’s Museum”. There was a huge line of faceless people looking to enter, with security guards around the entrance. The guards were reminiscent of the guards of Kamoshida’s Palace, with masks covering their faceless heads.

“Woah, this place is on a whole ‘nother level compared to Kamoshida…” Skull muttered, looking up at the size of the building. It was almost twice as tall as Kamoshida’s Palace, just from the initial view. Who knows how the inside will look like? “This is what that shack looks like to Madarame?”

“Alright, let’s get a scope of this place,” Mona suggested, and the Thieves got into action. They scaled the wall nearby, making sure that they weren’t seen by any of the guards who walked around the outside of the museum. The group climbed up the side of the building and rappelled down an open skylight, letting them slide down into the exhibition hall.

“Wait… the paintings are moving…” Panther observed. The paintings around them depicted people, each person in their own frame. “The plates under them just have their names,” she added.

“It’s creepy… seeing all of these faces just stare at you,” Sky continued, shaking his head. He pulled off his goggles, summoning the navigation Persona. Merlin grabbed his staff and slammed it onto the ground, sending a wave throughout the Palace.

A display appeared, showing the team the floor plan of the entire Palace. It was massive, much bigger than Kamoshida’s. The ceiling itself was tall, giving the illusion that the museum was much larger on the outside. Even with that, it was still much larger than Kamoshida's Palace, due to its multiple floors. It seemed like Skull agreed with him. “This place is so much more complicated than Kamoshida’s Palace!”

“The Treasure should be somewhere around here,” Mona pointed towards the top of the museum, Sky marking that area with a marker. The room was all the way on the other side of the building, with no windows that they could access nearby. They would have to start from this point and go on.

“Let’s keep looking around,” Joker suggested. The group moved slowly and quietly, watching around corners for any guards, but there didn’t seem to be any. The main group of guards were focused on controlling the mass from entering, leaving the exhibit area mainly unguarded. The group entered another room, and immediately stopped in their tracks.

“Isn’t that the dude in Mementos?” Panther brought up, and Sky nodded. He moved closer, reading the display plate. “Natsuhiko Nakanohara, his name is on the plate.”

“Guys, over here,” Skull beckoned, looking over towards their leader, who had his eyes on another painting. Sky grimaced, while Panther frowned. “Kitagawa Yusuke.”

“This must all be Madarame’s students, past and present,” Joker said, looking at the large exhibit room filled with portraits. Sky frowned at the large number of artists that Madarame must have robbed, each with so much talent and a bright future ahead of them. “Let’s keep going.”

The group ventured further, going past the main reception and into the main lobby, a huge golden sculpture right in the middle of it. Joker approached the statue, taking a look at the display plate present.

“The Infinite Spring?” Panther read, looking at the sculpture. It showed what looked like multiple people getting caught in a whirlpool, falling further down. “A conglomerate work of art that the great director Madarame creates with his own funds. These individuals must offer their ideas to the director for the rest of their lives. Those who cannot do so have no worth living.”

“This is clear evidence of the plagiarism, isn’t it?” Sky asked, and nods went around. Skull growled, face curling.

“So, to Madarame, all those students were just pieces of art on display. They’re property. He’s stealing all their hard work and ideas and tossing them away when they run out or speak up. This would be about the abuse, isn’t it?” Mona added. Panther looked away from the sculpture. “Why would Kitagawa-kun keep quiet about this, though?”

“He did say that Madarame saved him…” Joker replied, looking away as well. None of them wanted to stomach the fact that the kind old man had such a hidden secret. Skull stomped his foot, eyebrows furrowed under his mask. “But still, he has to realize this is wrong!”

“Was that painting I liked in the exhibit plagiarized as well?” Panther asked herself, eyes shaking. “Was that why he reacted so negatively to it?”

“Would you forgive someone no matter what if you owe your life to them?” Sky muttered to himself. The group went silent, each contemplating their own answer. The navigator didn’t know his own answer to that, and he doesn’t think he would like to.

“We’ve seen enough, I would say. I would like to think we have our next target,” Joker said, glancing at the sculpture again. Panther still seemed hesitant, though. It was hard to get rid of first impressions, even with clear evidence of the contrary. “I feel like we should ask Kitagawa-kun first. I…” she trailed off.

“That’s fine. We need more information on him anyway. Just tell us when he replies, okay?” Mona said, beginning to walk out of the room. “There isn’t much we can do for now without a consensus from all of us, so we can head back for now. We were here just for recon, after all.”

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_AT:_ ** _I thought about what you said, Hikaru_

**_AT:_ ** _Kitagawa-kun said that he wasnt a problem_

**_HA:_ ** _he seemed like that_

**_HA:_ ** _he did decline all the rumors when we went over in the afternoon, I dont think he’ll change his mind so quickly_

**_RS:_ ** _is something up Ann?_

**_AT:_ ** _Im sorry im just really hesitant on this, maybe because I haven’t met any of his victims, unlike Kamoshida_

**_AT:_ ** _I know hes bad, but he isnt causing any problems as of now? So do we really need to do anything if nothing bad is happening?_

**_AK:_ ** _You have a point, but remember that Yusuke has a biased view on Madarame. The man raised him after all, so its a given he’ll side with him, even if Madarame did something awful._

**_AT:_ ** _Thats true…_

**_AK:_ ** _Lets just wait for his response, ok?_

**_AT:_ ** _Yeah, sorry. I’ll see you guys tomorrow_

**_HA:_ ** _no need to apologize, we know youre worried_

**_AK:_ ** _What he said. We’ll talk about this tomorrow, when we have more info_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I read through everything I have written, I noticed that there are some character inconsistencies. If these appear in the future chapters, just let me know. I'll try to fix it if I see any.


	13. The Sin of Vanity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm procrastinating work, so here's another chapter.

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_AT:_ ** _He said today was fine so we can meet after school somewhere_

**_RS:_ ** _sounds great, we can walk over together_

**_AK:_ ** _then meet at the vending machine at the courtyard area?_

**_RS:_ ** _sure sure_

_~~~_

“I really don’t know what to do in terms of modeling for art. I do fashion modeling, but that’s entirely different!” Ann complained in one breath. She groaned, leaning against the vending machine.

“I mean, isn’t it still modeling? I think it would be similar, won’t it?” Akira questioned. He was seated on the bench nearby, bag on the small table. Morgana’s head peaked out, keeping an eye to make sure no one was listening in.

“There should still be skills that carry over since they're almost the same,” Hikaru added, crossing his arms. He leaned against a pillar, scrolling on his phone half-heartedly.

“That’s great, but poor Mishima, though,” Ryuji commented, looking over towards the blue-haired boy. He was getting interrogated by Makoto, who had a strong glare on her face. Hikaru hummed, thinking back to the one time he had met her sister. The Niijimas definitely shared the same eyes.

“Hikaru, didn’t you say the president was off our trail?” Akira asked, looking over.

Hikaru shrugged, not looking away from his phone. “She isn’t poking her nose here, is she? Plus, Mishima won’t spill, no matter how threatening she is. He’s strong.” And sure enough, the president left Mishima, looking annoyed. Mishima let out a breath of relief, walking off into the school compound.

“Still, we should still be worried, especially with the principal breathing down her neck,” Morgana added, eyes trained on the two walking away. Hikaru sighed, pocketing his phone. “I’m just worried that she’ll crack under the pressure and do something stupid…”

Akira hummed, turning back towards the group. He got up, grabbing his bag, and beckoned the others. “Let’s go. Yusuke’s waiting, right?”

“Yeah. I’ll check on Mishima since I won’t be there. I need to tell him something too. If I sense that you guys entered the Metaverse, I’ll be there shortly, okay?” The group nodded, all getting up to leave minus the navigator, saying their goodbyes.

Hikaru got up and wandered back into the school compound. The Phan-Site admin was in the classroom, gathering his things. It was after school, so it was already empty. Hikaru approached him casually, waiting for the boy to realize he was there. It took a while, but Mishima finally looked up.

“Oh, Aozora, how can I help you?” The boy said with a smile. Hikaru smiled as well. Something about Mishima just seemed so… relaxing. Disarming, even.

“I just wanted to ask you what the president wanted. She seemed very pressed for answers earlier, at the courtyard.” Mishima looked away, scratching the back of his head.

“It’s nothing, she just wanted to know stuff about the Phantom Thieves that the school was talking about. You know about them, right? The ones who apparently stole Kamoshida’s heart.” Mishima’s eyes lit up as he mentioned the Thieves. It was nice, seeing the once lifeless and unenthusiastic teen being so excited about something.

“Yeah, I’ve heard things about it. Wouldn’t you know better about it, though, as the admin of the Phan-Site?” Mishima flinched at that, eyes widening. Hikaru smiled gently. “How do you know about that?”

“You should watch out for any potential hackers. Your firewalls aren’t particularly strong, you know. I trust that you can keep a secret but try to make sure that what you do is untraceable.” Mishima was still shocked, if his silence was anything to go by.

“After all, what the Phantom Thieves are doing is against the law. We wouldn’t want our top informant to get caught,” Hikaru said with a wink. Mishima's mouth dropped open, a hand quickly coming up to cover his mouth. He silently nodded, still shocked. Hikaru laughed. “I’ll see you around, Mishima.”

“Y-Yeah…” the admin said softly. He lowered his hand, a smile appearing on his face. “See you, Aozora. And thank you.”

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_HA:_ ** _so nude painting?_

**_AT:_ ** _I cant believe it!!!_

**_RS:_ ** _how did u know?_

**_HA:_ ** _I don’t think I mentioned it before but my power lets me listen in on convos and do mind reading_

**_AT:_ ** _Oh that’s really useful for Phantom Thieving!_

**_HA:_ ** _I told Morgana only but he told Akira_

**_AK:_ ** _that he did_

**_RS:_ ** _all I got is electric powers and super strength :/_

**_HA:_ ** _hey, that’s still pretty good_

**_AT:_ ** _what I’m interested in is Akira’s power_

**_AK:_ ** _depending on my equipped Persona it can change_

**_HA:_ ** _isn’t that hard to control tho_

**_AK:_ ** _it can be, but it isn’t as bad as you think since some part of this comes instinctually_

**_AT:_ ** _that’s so cool!_

**_RS:_ ** _://///_

**_HA:_ ** _its ok Ryuji your powers are great too_

**_AT:_ ** _yeah, im in the same boat as you_

**_AT:_ ** _I get healing powers and fire and im pretty happy about it_

**_HA:_ ** _anyway, nude painting?_

**_RS:_ ** _honestly, how much do people get paid for that kind of thing?_

**_AK:_ ** _you would be surprised_

**_RS:_ ** _how’d you know?_

**_AK:_ ** _no comment_

**_AT:_ ** _first off, no. Second, Akira???_

**_AK: no comment_ **

**_HA:_ ** _he once did nude modeling for a university class as an extra job in first year of high school at his hometown_

**_AK: Hikaru_ **

**_HA:_ ** _thing is the dude didn’t know he’s underage when he realized he freaked so hard_

**_AK: Hikaru._ **

**_HA:_ ** _you don’t scare me akira_

**_RS:_ ** _HOLY SHIT IM–_

**_AT:_ ** _now I feel less bad about this. Akira wtf?_

**_AK:_ ** _look when you’re desperate for money you do anything you can, alright?_

**_HA:_ ** _at least you got a decent sum out of it, and people think you’re attractive_

**_AK:_ ** _I don’t think yusuke wants to draw me nude_

**_HA:_ ** _did you offer_

**_RS:_ ** _alright im done_

**_RS:_ ** _ann how much is yusuke paying you_

**_AT:_ ** _????_

**_RS:_ ** _we need income on thief stuff somehow_

**_AT:_ ** _Yusuke looks like he’s starving himself?? He’s so skinny??_

**_AT:_ ** _You think he’s going to pay me??_

**_AT:_ ** _You think I’ll accept money? From that poor dude?_

**_RS:_ ** _fair enough_

**_AK:_ ** _alright enough of that so we got our target right?_

**_RS:_ ** _yep_

**_AT:_ ** _mhm_

**_HA:_ ** _yes_

**_AK:_ ** _wonderful. We’ll go in tomorrow, ok?_

**_PM: HA - > AT_ **

**_HA:_ ** _are you actually okay, tho?_

**_AT:_ ** _?_

**_HA:_ ** _i know that what happened with kamoshida hasn’t actually settled down. are you okay?_

**_AT:_ ** _…to be honest, not really. But it’s ok, i know that i can rely on you all_

**_AT:_ ** _i trust you all to be there if i need it_

**_HA:_ ** _okay. just checking in on you_

**_AT:_ ** _thanks, hikaru. i needed it._

**_HA:_ ** _anytime_

_~~~_

“Look, I’m sorry!”

Joker apologized once again as the lasers leave the group scattered and trapped. Guards rushed in, leaving the group only able to provide long-range support for their leader. Sky sighed, blue fire burning his goggles off.

“I tell you, one of these days I’m going to get an aneurysm.” The navigator had warned that something about that vase in the middle of the room wasn’t right, but the group got too hasty. Mona’s eyes sparkled, and Joker immediately went to take it, seeing nothing around them.

“Alright, maybe not the smartest move, but we’re thieves! Did you expect me to pass that up?” Joker yelled in retaliation, dodging a strike from a Jack Frost. Sky signaled towards Panther, who used Agi at a distance to down the creature. Joker went in to strike, effectively killing the Shadow.

“Panther, painting to your right behind you should have a button behind it. I’ll try to access the mainframe with Merlin to disable the lasers, but I don’t know how well this will go. I’m not a hacker,” Sky said, allowing Merlin to scout through the network.

“Panther’s button is around the corner, and Mona needs a password. Go free Panther, and she’ll free Skull. I’ll try to handle Mona.” Merlin could, in fact, hack a museum mainframe with limited control. He could do anything a guard could do at a console. Good to know. The lasers around Mona came down just as the partition behind Panther lowered. She lifted the painting and pressed the button and freed Skull, who was stuck behind the other wall of lasers.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me there. I made such a rookie mistake, and should’ve trusted you, Sky…” Mona said, shame clear in his face. He bowed his oversized head, which caused a short silence. Sky sighed, leaning down to pat him on the head. “It’s fine, okay? Just watch out next time.”

“That’s great and all, but now that the lasers are down…” Akira muttered, a smirk growing on his face. Sky rolled his eyes, Merlin already processing the information they needed. When a gem popped out, everyone but him was surprised.

“What is that? A Shadow?” Skull asked, confusion clear. Mona’s eyes flashed with recognition, and he moved into action. “I’ll explain later, just catch it!”

Joker moved in front of it, causing a wispy shape to appear out of the gem. A glance showed Sky that the Shadow only had a weakness to Nuclear and Psychic attacks, of which the party had none. “Just hit it with all you got!”

“Don’t need to tell me twice!” Captain Kidd materialized, ramming his ship into the Shadow. The Shadow let out a shriek, getting knocked back but not falling. It stayed idle, not attacking, just looking around. Skull was confused, jumping back. “It’s not attacking, is it charging up an attack or something?”

“No, it’s trying to look for the opportunity to escape. Surround it!” Joker commanded. Mona jumped into action, cutting off the Shadow’s escape and striking it with a Garu. Once again, it didn’t have any effect.

Sky growled, feeling restless. He wanted to do something, but he had limited capabilities. All he could do is just help in information gathering and commanding, but that was the extent of his aid. He just hoped he could have done something more to help. It made him realize that other than information, he didn’t seem to have any sort of impact on combat at all.

 _“Let me help with that,”_ Merlin said in his mind. Sky gasped as Merlin spun his staff and knocked it on the ground, sending a wave through the Thieves. The group trembled, seemingly shocked. Joker stood back up and attacked once again, but something happened.

Joker went in to strike with his dagger, not noticing the slight glow the weapon exuded. The hit from the dagger seemed to weaken the Shadow, causing it to let out a screech. It fell to the ground, the gem beneath it clunking heavily against the ground. Taking the opportunity, the group surrounded it, guns at the ready.

“You want it?” Panther asked, and Joker nodded. However, before Joker could say anything, the Shadow spoke up. “To think that you have coerced me into giving up… I am Regent, and my home is within the Sea of Souls.”

With that, the Shadow morphed into a mask, merging with Joker’s. He then turned back towards their navigator. “What was that? Didn’t it resist Physical attacks?”

“It did…” Sky muttered. Merlin seemed to have allowed Joker’s weapon to bypass that resistance and critically strike, or he disrupted the Shadow to allow its resistances to become weaknesses. Either way, it allowed him to down the Shadow when it wouldn’t have been possible.

“Did your Persona do that?” Skull asked, scratching his head.

“I think so. Huh.”

“Well, that’s going to be useful.” Mona jumped onto the now-empty pedestal, looking at the navigator at eye level. “That would make stealth and combat a lot faster, as well as help in knocking down enemies should Joker want to recruit them.”

“Regardless, let’s move on. We still have a lot more to explore,” Mona said, calling the group back to attention. Sky was left thinking about his Persona, and how much power it had. Merlin was clearly a lot stronger than most Personas, since he was able to do a lot more compared to, say, Carmen or Zorro. Was this just because it was mainly a navigation Persona?

“Heads up!” He snapped back into attention.

~~~

The wall before the group was massive and unyielding. Sky sighed, not sensing any way to get around the massive blockade. “We’re stuck here. I don’t know how to get us across. It’s like a huge barrier that just breaks the Palace in half,” the navigator said, flinging his hands up in surrender.

“Can you hack the door open?” Mona asked, looking at the enormous door in front of them.

Sky sighed. “I wish. It’s as if the door itself cuts the Palace in half, and the way to open it is on the other side. I can’t access it from this end.”

“Doesn’t that design look familiar?” Skull brought up after staring at the door. The door had swirls on it, and looked very much like a sliding one would see in a shack like Madarame’s house. Mona’s eyes widened.

“You’re right! I saw this door in Madarame’s house! It had a huge padlock on it, too.” Mona muttered to himself, thinking aloud. The rest of the party stayed silent, not wanting to interrupt the cat from his train of thought.

“The door probably acts as a barrier in this world because Madarame thinks that no one can get past it in the real world. Therefore, it’s impenetrable here. What we need to do to get past would be to change his cognition to think that the door isn’t a wall but can be unlocked.” Mona explained.

“So, we need to open the door in real life to get through?” Joker asked and received a nod. Well, the Phantom Thieves had their job. “Then we should stop here, since we can’t do much. We’ll see when we can get in touch with Yusuke again.”

“I can text him about that… offer he suggested,” Panther said, eyes averted. Joker looked at her with uncertainty. “Are you sure, Panther? I don’t want you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”

“It’ll be fine, Joker. I can bring Mona along. I’ll act as a distraction so that Mona can pick the lock while I hold up Yusuke. The important thing we have to manage is Madarame. He needs to be there to see the lock not there, so our timing needs to be perfect.”

“Since Joker and I are not allowed to be with you, we can wait in here. Once you unlock it, the door should just pop right open, right?” Skull double-checked, Mona nodding. He nodded himself.

“I can help coordinate both groups, since I can access the real world from the Metaverse. I’ll be with you two so that once we enter, I can check if I can disable the locks permanently on the door.” Joker glanced around the group and nodded.

Seems like they have a plan.

~~

_Remember, if it comes down to it, you can bail. No one will shame you for that, especially considering what you’ve been through._

_“I know, Hikaru. Thanks, but I’ll do it.”_ Ann was determined to help the group. She always has seen her looks as a negative trait, considering what happened with Kamoshida. However, this would be the first time she can use it as a weapon, as a tool to help others.

“Remember the plan, Mona?” Ann whispered, feeling a small lick on her arm carrying the bag.

“I do, Lady Ann, but…you really plan on a distraction, huh?” A small snicker. Ann ignored that. She had to focus. She entered Yusuke’s room, happily greeting the artist. The artist looked up and immediately did a double-take at what the girl was wearing. “Uh, Takamaki-san?”

“Hi! I hope you don’t mind, the subway was really cold!” She said, lying through her teeth. She was never good at these kinds of things, but she had to do her best.

The plan was a go.

~~~

 _“Mona, Madarame’s at the store right outside buying stuff. I’ll give you a heads up when. Ann, you’ve got another, I’ll say, 5 minutes to burn? Make small talk, I don’t know.”_ Sky sighed, seeing Joker and Skull’s amused faces. They were watching the scene on a large screen, courtesy of Sky, and occasionally contributing some commentary.

_I think I got it, but it’s hard picking locks with cat paws!_

“It’s hard enough with human hands, I can’t even imagine it with cat paws…” Joker muttered, causing Skull to roll his eyes. The blond crossed his arms, resting his weight on one foot while waiting.

“She’s really bad at acting, I don’t know how Yusuke is buying all of this,” he said, watching the blue-haired artist watch as Ann began stripping layer by layer, taking her time with each one.

_“Mona, are you done? Madarame’s going to be back soon. Ann’s also running out of layers to take off.”_

_Yep. Redirect Ann to me and we can see what’s behind this wall._

_“You heard that, Ann?”_

_Loud and clear. Thank the heavens!_

Ann sighed in relief. She was on her last layer.

“Hey, I never looked around this place that much. Do you mind if I go check out the other rooms?” Ann asked, not giving Yusuke the chance to respond. She immediately slipped out of the room, giving the artist no choice but to follow her. “Wait, Takamaki-san!”

“Hey, what’s behind this door?” She asked as she arrived at the door. A small moment of panic appeared as Morgana was still on the lock, fiddling with it. “You’re not done?!” She whisper-yelled.

“My claws got stuck! I think I almost got it freed…” the cat grunted, moving his paws around, causing the lock mechanism to jiggle. Ann turned back towards the approaching artist, a nervous smile on her face.

“That’s just an old storage room. I’m not allowed to go in, as it belongs to Sensei,” Yusuke said, slowing to a stop.

“Why don’t we do the modeling in there?” Ann said, not meeting his eyes. “I’ll feel much better if I knew there was no one who would see us…”

“We really shouldn’t, plus, it’s locked anyway. Come, let’s go back to the room,” Yusuke beckoned, but Ann didn’t follow.

“I think I almost got it! Just keep him there! Keep talking!” Morgana meowed, causing Yusuke to do a double-take.

“I’m just really embarrassed… Can we really not do it in here?” Ann asked, looking up at the artist, who scratched the back of his neck. “I… I think I’ll just leave, I’m sorry. I’m just too embarrassed to do this.”

“Wait, Takamaki-san! Please reconsider?” Yusuke pleaded, eyes wide at the girl’s statement. Ann stayed silent, giving the impression of her thinking. It definitely helped her stall for time while Madarame was on his way back. Right on time, Madarame’s voice could be heard from the entrance. “I’m home!”

“I got it!” Morgana exclaimed, the lock falling onto the ground with a loud clang. Ann immediately sprinted in, Yusuke following her as she entered the room. He stood hesitantly at the door, not wanting to defy his mentor. Madarame appeared around the corner, face twisting with panic at seeing the lock on his ground. “Hey! What are you doing!”

“S-Sensei, it’s not what it looks like!” He tried to reason. Ann, however, decided that enough was enough. She grabbed Yusuke, pulling him into the room, hearing Madarame’s angry yell right outside.

_~~~_

_“It’s down. We’re heading in.”_

The door began to creak open, the lasers blocking the group’s approach disabled. The trio took the chance to rush in, arriving at a large hall, with a small control room to the side. Joker made a beeline for the room, Skull and Sky right behind their leader.

“Breach and clear!” He barged the door open, taking the two guards within by surprise. Taking the opportunity, Skull summoned Captain Kidd, smashing a Shadow into dust. Joker opened fire, placing multiple holes in the other guard, causing it to dissipate as well. Sky rushed towards the console, Merlin appearing behind him. Shadows began to come into the room, sensing the intruders.

“Stall for me, I need time!” Sky yelled, typing into the keyboard. Joker and Skull stood close behind, weapons at the ready. The duo attacked with precision, with Merlin multitasking in combat information and overriding the system. However, the Shadows never ended.

“How much longer?! We can’t hold this for long between the two of us!” Joker shouted, jumping out of the way of a slice towards his arm. He fired a Garu in return, striking down the Inugami that attacked. He panted hard, feeling the effect of using so many spells over and over taking a toll on him. Skull seemed quite banged up from all the Physical spells he has been using, but was still able to fight.

The room glowed blue as Sky turned back around. At his master’s command, Merlin slammed his staff, allowing Joker and Skull’s attacks to instantly knock down the Shadows in the room. “Joker, group attack! Skull, boost!”

“Got it!” A Maragi, with the help of a Tarukaja from Skull, burst to life, engulfing the entire entrance of the area. The Shadows let out a loud shriek, which became softer and softer as the fire raged. Before long, the only thing standing were the three thieves. With the coast clear, the three of them dashed out, their job done. What they didn’t expect was the surprise waiting for them outside the gate.

“Panther? Mona? Yusuke?!” They found the other group lying on the ground in a heap in the garden. “What are you doing here?!”

“We needed an escape, and Madarame had us trapped, so this was the only place I could come! Also, get off me!” Panther groaned, pushing Yusuke off her back, the artist letting out a yell.

“Bad timing! Security’s going nuts, since the room was breached! We need to get out now!” Sky yelled, alarms blaring from where they came from.

“What… Takamaki-san? Where are we?” Yusuke stammered, looking around. His eyes landed on Panther, who looked around in concern. Seeing the lack of Shadows, she let out a breath of relief. Turning back to the puzzled artist, she grabbed his wrist, leading the charge. “We’ll explain later, we need to get you out first!”

~~~

“This place… where are we? Weren’t we just in the shack?” Yusuke asked as they ran. He stayed in between the group, with Sky, Mona and Joker in front, and Skull and Panther behind.

“This is the world of Madarame’s heart. This is his perception of the shack,” Mona said, not looking back. The scout was watching the corners, making sure that the group stayed far away from combat, especially since Yusuke was with them.

“It might not seem like it, but this is what Madarame sees the world as. He’s just a greedy money-hungry bastard,” Skull scoffed, earning the glare of the artist. He opened his mouth, just about to refute.

“You know something’s wrong with what we saw, Kitagawa-kun!” Panther exclaimed, interrupting what Yusuke was about to say. At that, the apprentice narrowed his eyes, mouth shutting. “This really a reality that shows what Madarame sees. There’s no other explanation for it.”

Yusuke was silent, not saying anything. If what they said was true, then Yusuke didn’t know anything about his Sensei. Was the man that saved him all those years ago the same one who taught him now? Did he ever know the man named Ichiryusai Madarame?

“Yusuke.” His eyes turned up at the one person he didn’t know the identity of. He knew who the other two were, but not the loosely clothed teen with goggles on his face. “You know what you saw, and you can piece what happened. Do you really think the man who saved you would do everything you saw?”

His words shook Yusuke to the core. He knew the voice, of course. Now that he heard the brunet speak, it made sense. Hikaru was there in the exhibit and the day after. But what stunned Yusuke was what he said. From such a trusted source in the public, saying what everyone else said? The bud of doubt in his heart began to grow.

At the artist’s silence, Sky turned back towards Mona, who nodded. The coast was clear, and the exit was right around the corner, just after the main foyer area. But something was up. Shadow readings were off the charts, but there was nothing as far as the eye can see. The navigator grimaced, turning towards their leader, who nodded. “We’re going to need to make a dash for it. Get ready for combat.” Silent nods all around.

Just as Sky thought, right as they were about to exit the foyer, Shadows appeared, blocking their path. The group leaped back, but there were more. A burst of evil laughter rang around the hall, a man dressed in a bright golden yukata approaching the group, Shadows at his flank.

“Welcome to the museum of the great artist Madarame!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you liked it!


	14. Into The Museum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm summarizing Palace exploration into one chapter, because, let's be honest. How many of you finished this in a day? I know I certainly did. I took almost the entire deadline for Kamoshida's, and then just rushed through Madarame's in a day.

“That’s-” Skull exclaimed, mouth slightly open before turning into a scowl. “First a king, and now some kind of shogun?”

“Skull.” A word and glance from their leader were enough to calm down the angry pirate. “So that’s this world’s Madarame… Sky?”

“No good, Joker.” Sky didn’t even need to scan him. Just a look at him gave the navigator what he needed to know. Madarame was more famous and influential than Kamoshida, making him that much stronger. From what the navigator could tell, right now, they couldn’t even hurt him, let alone try to beat him. Not to mention they have Yusuke, who would make it harder for them to fight at full ability. “Not right now.”

“S-sensei? Is that you?” Yusuke stammered, wide-eyed at his master’s attire and appearance. He approached slowly, but was held back by Panther, fire in her eyes. “Absolutely disgusting,” she spat.

“Ah, Yusuke. My best student. You’ve worked so hard…” Yusuke’s eyes lighted up, hoping that everything he saw was just an act. Some sort of dream.

“You foolish kid.”

Everything came crashing down.

“Everything was an act! You think some famous artist would live in a shack?! I have a different house, under a different name. Stolen art? As if I would let anyone close to my cash cow! But you know what? It’s a great rumor, isn’t it? ‘I have the original, but no one trusts its authenticity. But for you….’ Cash just comes right on in!” Yusuke fell to the ground as Madarame laughed. Joker grimaced.

“Some setup you have.” The leader righted himself. He walked slowly, right beside Yusuke. “I must say, I’m impressed.”

_Everyone, can we break through? We need Yusuke out of here._

_“It’ll be hard, leader. We’re surrounded on all sides, with Madarame ready to fight. This isn’t looking good.”_

“Then all those years ago… when you saved me…” Yusuke muttered, looking down.

“All just my plan! Picking up talent as I see them and cultivating them… ripe ideas to be stolen! After all, it’s easier to steal when they can’t fight back!” Yusuke flinched, causing Skull and Panther to growl.

“You absolute shitbag!” Skull cursed, pipe in his hand. Panther was the same, with her whip already out.

“Enough of this. Guards!” Madarame commanded, and the guards moved forward. The party immediately struck back, sending the closest Shadows back. Panther yelled as she struck, flames burning the Shadows as her whip gathered all of them together. Skull struck with a rage, pipe crushing the Shadows while a thunderstorm brewed. Joker and Mona, on the other hand, were silent but deadly, protecting those in the middle.

And in the middle was Sky and Yusuke. The navigator kneeled down next to the artist, patting his back.

_We’ll stall. You know what to do._

He saw it a while ago, and he knows Joker did too. The inner spirit of rebellion within the boy was rising, slowly growing and spreading. It wasn’t long now. All he needed was just to say the right words.

“This is inexcusable.” And there it was. That’s all he needed. Sky backed up, a small smile on his face. The readings show a decrease in temperature and increased strength, indicating the role of the new Persona’s power. Ice and Physical attacks would definitely help in the group’s versatility.

“I wanted to believe it wasn’t true. That everything I saw was just a dream,” Yusuke muttered, slowly standing up. His gaze was ice-cold, frost gathering on the walls around them. “I’ve clouded my vision for long enough. I couldn’t see the monstrosity of a man right in front of me.”

_Have you come to your senses?_

Sky smirked, seeing the artist fall to the ground, clutching his head. He could feel his soul resonating with Yusuke, the power flowing through him beginning to spread. The artist’s eyes glowed yellow as the power of the Awakening began to course through him.

_How foolishly you averted your eyes from the truth. A deplorable imitation indeed… best you part with that aspect of yourself!_

Yusuke crumpled onto the floor, nails grabbing the carpet of the floor. Blood begin trickling down his fingertips as he scratched the ground, trying to get a bearing on himself.

“Oh, ouch. Was that what I was like during my Awakening?” Sky asked, flinching as he saw the artist in pain.

Joker smirked, rolling his eyes. “Yeah. Something like that.”

**_Let us now forge a contract. I am thou, and thou art I. The world is filled with both beauty and vice. It is time you teach people which is which!_ **

A fox mask formed on Yusuke’s face, his eyes narrowing under the mask. With a bloodied hand, he reached up and ripped the mask off, his skin peeling along with it. With a loud yell, blue flames grew, enveloping his figure. “Come, Goemon!”

When the flames died down, Goemon stood behind his master. With a stomp of his foot, Goemon blew into his pipe, causing frost to form on the nearby Shadows. The frost then propagated, growing and growing until solid ice formed, freezing all Shadows in the blink of an eye. Madarame growled, summoning more Shadows with the wave of a hand.

“Imitations they may be, but they are beautiful. Flowers of evil may blossom, but such atrocities are fated to perish!” The Shadows shattered with a wave of his hand, a large slice forming beautiful sculptures of ice.

“This is…” Panther whispered, looking around them. The frozen Shadows were beautiful, a true work of art. Mona jumped in excitement at Yusuke’s power. “This is impressive!”

“Let’s see what you’re made of,” Joker said, by Yusuke’s side, a grin on his face. Yusuke returned it with a smile of his own, letting the power run through him. The Shadows left merged into one, summoning multiple enemies in front of the group.

“Phantom Thieves, action!” With that call, the group sprang into action, weapons at the ready.

“Alright, team, we’ve got an ice weakness. Yusuke, go wild!” The artist nodded, Goemon slamming his foot. With a gesture, all of the Shadows were frozen, knocking down all but one of the Shadows. It screeched, attacking Panther with his hammer. The girl let out a yell as the hammer cracked heavily against her shoulder.

“Panther!” Mona yelled, summoning Zorro to heal the injuries. Meanwhile, Skull attacked the remaining Shadow with an empowered shotgun shell to the face. That caused it to fall, allowing for the rest of the group to go in for the kill.

“We need to get out now, Madarame’s not here. Who knows how many Shadows are coming after all of that?” Sky brought up, pulling up camera feed around the building. Everything was on high alert, with Shadows running towards their location. With Sky supporting Panther, the group made a quick escape.

~~~

“So, you all are the rumored Phantom Thieves of Hearts,” Yusuke confirmed. They were once again in the diner by Shibuya, a common gathering spot for the Thieves. The bustling noise helped them blend in, allowing them to talk freely without any worry of eavesdroppers.

“You know the story, I’m guessing? It was quite the scandal, after all,” Akira said, leaning back in his seat. Beside the artist, Hikaru sighed in comfort, taking a sip of his tea. It was a nice drink to relax his nerves after such a day in the Metaverse.

“…You’ve known for a while now, haven’t you?” Hikaru spoke up after a short silence. The heir didn’t look up, staring at his drink, but everyone knew what he meant.

“Of course. Strange people always came by, and the plagiarism wasn’t even hidden. But, as I said, I owe him my life. Who would admit that the person who saved you is, for the lack of a better term, a money-hungry monster?” Yusuke rested his head on his hands, staring a hole into the table.

“He basically adopted me, all those years ago. My mother passed away in an accident when I was three, leaving me alone in the world. My father was never in the equation, and all I had was Madarame. He used to help my mother with her art, and when the time came, he took me in. I owed everything to him, but he changed.” Yusuke’s brow furrowed as he reminisced. He remembered the pain he felt when he was alone, and how Madarame introduced him into the world of art. He gave him a purpose for living on.

“What are you going to do now?” Morgana asked, head popping out. Yusuke sighed. What was he going to do? He had no idea. “I don’t know…”

“You could come with us,” Ryuji suggested. Yusuke looked up, confusion in his eyes.

“You know the rumors. We steal hearts, after all!” Ann exclaimed.

“Would you like to join the Phantom Thieves, Yusuke?” Akira proposed, a gentle smile on his face. Yusuke hummed, a small sense of purpose returned. He could do something. He wasn’t going to let it end like this.

“If you would have me.” Yusuke closed his eyes in relief, a smile curling on his face.

“Great! Now we’ll be able to take down that Palace, no problem!” Morgana meowed excitedly, catching the attention of nearby customers. Ann quickly shushed the cat, while Ryuji pushed him back into the bag, earning a yowl from the scout.

“Hey! Watch it!” Ryuji growled, which led to another argument, with Ann trying to calm the both of them.

“Is this a normal occurrence?” Yusuke asked, the smile on his face growing.

“You get used to it,” Hikaru sighed, taking another sip. The tea was just amazing. He should just come here on his own time.

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_YK:_ ** _Once again, thank you for having me._

**_YK:_ ** _I first, however, would like to apologize for the accusations I made to all of you. Especially you, Ann. I wasn’t aware of what you went through, and I made you…_

**_AT:_ ** _Don’t worry about it! I had to get over it eventually._

**_YK:_ ** _But still, it was rude of me. I wholeheartedly apologize._

**_AT:_ ** _Apology accepted. I won’t say i was comfortable, because i wasn’t. But you learned from this, and that’s what matters here._

**_AT:_ ** _That aside, we did get the door open right?_

**_HA:_ ** _ye_

**_RS:_ ** _oh yeah yusuke important question_

**_YK:_ ** _Yes?_

**_RS:_ ** _do you play league of legends_

**_YK:_ ** _I know of the game, but I never had time nor a computer to play._

**_RS:_ ** _rip_

**_HA:_ ** _rip_

**_AT:_ ** _You guys are becoming more like each other everyday_

**_HA:_ ** _no idea what ur talking about_

**_AK:_ ** _Back to the main topic_

**_AK:_ ** _So we should probably do this before the exhibit ends, yes_

**_YK:_ ** _That would be the best course of action. He won’t report us during his exhibit, as it will bring negative attention to him._

**_YK:_ ** _The exhibit ends on June 5 th, so I assume that will be our deadline._

**_RS:_ ** _so a bit more than two weeks_

**_AK:_ ** _alright i need to go prep gear again_

**_AT:_ ** _by the way, when are we going in_

**_AK:_ ** _maybe in two days ish im still undecided_

**_RS:_ ** _sure just let all of us know_

**_HA:_ ** _also akira just saying this coz i dont think u realized but morgana’s really loud in class_

**_AT:_ ** _lmao_

**_AK:_ ** _wait really_

**_HA:_ ** _can hear him whispering answers to you from my place man_

**_AK:_ ** _wtf_

**_AT:_ ** _ive seen ushimaru give you the stink eye multiple times whenever morgana says anything_

**_HA:_ ** _the dude behind you is so fucking scared whenever the cat meows and you start whispering answers back_

**_AK:_ ** _…_

**_HA:_ ** _hey mona wanna come stay in my desk for a day_

**_AT:_ ** _if anything i need him! you all have good enough grades anyway!_

**_AK:_ ** _don’t steal my cat_

**_HA:_ ** _imma steal ur cat_

**_AK:_ ** _how dare_

**_AK:_ ** _watch ur back aozora_

**_AK:_ ** _and ur ankles ill get mona to chew ur ankles_

**_AK:_ ** _he said he won’t but ill make him do it_

**_HA:_ ** _im quaking in fear_

**_~~~_ **

“I thought you were kidding!”

Akira laughed as Hikaru lifted his feet onto his chair, the cat trying to nibble at his ankles. Ann giggled, rolling her eyes. The sheer ridiculousness of the situation just left her ignoring the thing totally. She didn’t need to deal with Akira’s pettiness today.

“What form of bribery did Akira give you to make you do this?! Tuna? Sushi?” Hikaru asked, watching the cat on his table, eyes narrowed. The cat rolled its eyes, looking at Hikaru with a deadpan look. “Do you have a better offer than some fatty tuna sushi?”

“Uhh…Premium tuna sashimi?” Morgana’s eyes gleamed, a smirk growing on his face. “Bring it tomorrow and we have a deal.”

“Tomorrow? You got it.” The cat meowed happily, jumping off the table and in front of Akira. The boy looked insulted, if anything. Hikaru picked the cat up, stuffing him into his desk as Kawakami entered the room. Today he gets the therapy cat. Hikaru was then reminded of what he wanted to ask.

“Oh, by the way, Palace?” he asked, looking down to find a small nod from the cat. “Just give Akira some time to make a weapon run.”

“Alright, class, listen up!”

~~~

“Excuse me?” Joker snapped.

In front of the Thieves was a huge room filled to the brim with lasers, with a grated wall behind all of that. Fox crossed his arms, a scowl on his face. “This is troublesome.”

“Tell me about it. Sky, you sure you can’t hack it?” Joker asked, pleading with the navigator, who rolled his eyes behind his goggles. “Joker, if I could, I would. You think I’m having a blast going through lasers?”

Joker groaned, throwing his dagger at the laser. As expected, it just bounced right off, same as all the other lasers that have appeared before. Discovering that itself was a journey on its own.

_“Do these trigger a Shadow or something?” Panther had asked, standing close to the laser. They were about to leave, but the fire Persona user was stopped by her personal curiosity. Did alarm equipment work the same as they did in the real world?_

_“I mean, go ahead and try, since we’re leaving anyway, right?” Skull turned to Sky, who turned to Joker. He was the leader, so whatever he said goes. The leader shrugged, gesturing towards the laser. “Just throw something at it, and if it triggers an alarm, we can either run like mad or just relax in a safe room until it dies down a bit.”_

_Panther hummed, picking up her whip. She threw the thing, which bounced right off of the laser. Wait, bounced? “Uhh…” she muttered, going to grab her weapon back._

_“Well, it’s a form of defense, like a mental block. It just manifested into the form of a laser. It should just act like a physical block,” Mona informed, watching the shenanigans from the side. Sky hummed, throwing one of his gloves at the laser as well. Just like the whip, it bounced off as if it hit a wall._

_“Why can we jump past it, though?” Skull asked, showing a side of him rarely seen. The boy was a lot more intelligent than people give him credit for._

_“It’s because the mental blocks are weak. If they were stronger, it would be harder to find gaps, and therefore harder to get past. If they’re weak, then you can easily pass through them or find a way around.”_

_“It does seem that the security increased when we hit it, but not by much.” Sky flipped the screen he was glancing at, letting everyone take a look. It showed Shadows appearing in other parts of the Palace, most likely as a response to them hitting the laser._

_Mona nodded. “Makes sense. After all, you would be on guard if someone tried to break a mental block.”_

_“Cool,” Joker remarked. “Well, let’s go. I feel like we’re tired enough.”_

The lasers were easy to get around, sure, but that doesn’t make it less annoying. Some lasers they had to leap, others they had to dive under, some even they have to go between the two lasers. It was annoying, it was painful if they missed, and it made Sky want to die. He looked on in despair, not wanting to actually do this.

“Can I go home?” he complained, Joker letting out a snort.

“God, I wish, but there’s no other way, Sky. It’s for society.” The boy groaned, not wanting to move.

“Uhh, guys?” Skull piped up, bringing the attention to him. He was standing by the side of the lasers, close to what looked like a fuse box. Using his lead pipe, he slammed the box, emitting sparks. With a loud crackle, the lasers turned off, and the grates lifted up.

A silence took over the leader and navigator. They stared at each other, then back at Skull, who was scratching the back of his head, silly grin on his face. Sky was the first to break, crumpling down onto the floor and letting out a loud whimper.

“Well, that’s one way to do it!” Panther said, letting out small giggles. Skull chuckled as well, approaching the group and patting their navigator on the back. “It’s okay, Sky, people do dumb stuff sometimes.”

“It did save us a lot of time…” Fox remarked, nodding with a smile on his face. “Wonderful work, Skull.”

“Come on, Sky, we have a job to do.” Joker sounded dead inside. Then again, Sky felt the same.

“Nothing happened. No offense to you, Skull, but I’m not acknowledging what just happened.” The navigator’s tone was solemn and serious, causing said delinquent to let out a guffaw.

“Fair enough, I guess. I don’t know how none of you noticed that,” he said in response, causing both Joker and Sky to let out a growl. “And I’m supposed to be the clueless one.”

~~~

The party was getting close, according to Sky’s map and Mona’s senses. They were beginning to get tired, though. Joker had called that they finish the rest of it, pulling out some coffee and snacks to help the party recover before they left the safe room.

“This is nice coffee,” Sky said, taking a sip from the thermos. Joker and Panther had their own thermoses, while Skull and Fox had a can of soda.

“Well, of course. I have standards to hit here, Sky,” Joker replied, placing his coffee on the table. “Anyway, let’s take a look at that map.”

With a wave of Sky’s hand, a hologram of the Palace appeared on the table. It showed the multiple rooms, their path highlighted by an arrow showing their journey. The rest of the Palace was dimmed, indicating nothing of interest. The party was indicated with a small marker, just off of the highlighted path. It seemed that after the next room, they would be in the final area, right outside the Treasure room. One last push.

“We’re almost there, yeah?” Skull said, taking a seat at the table. He rolled his eyes. “Finally. No offense, Fox, but this Palace is annoying.”

“None taken. I have no other Palace to compare, but it is troublesome, yes.” Fox crossed his legs, taking a sip of his soda. The artist sighed in relief. “I would like to be done with this as soon as possible.”

“Hey, what’s over here?” Panther inquired, pointing over to a small blip on the map. Sky’s face scrunched, summoning his Persona. “Hey, Merlin?”

“ _It seems like someone else is in the Palace.”_

A gasp was heard from Panther. “Someone else? Shouldn’t we go and find them? What if they need help?” She asked, concern on her face.

“Yeah! What if they wandered in, like how Panther over here did last time?” Skull brought up, Panther nodding in agreement. Joker, however, seemed hesitant. Mona stayed silent as well, staring at the blip on the map. It wasn’t moving, just staying in a room at the other end of the Palace.

“Joker?” Sky looked over, seeing the thoughtful expression on the leader’s face. “Your orders?”

“Ignore it. If that person is as deep in the Palace as they are, then they aren’t someone who stumbled in. If you wander in, you would be at the entrance, no?” Mona nodded in approval, a small smile growing. “Good decision. I don’t think that person is as innocent as it might seem.”

_“He’s right. That person seems to be powerful, if the aura I sense is correct. Avoid contact if you can. For now, the man seems lost, so as long as we finish quickly, we can avoid a confrontation that we will definitely lose.”_

“There you go. Should we continue on?” The two blondes, albeit hesitantly, nodded. It seemed strange, to leave someone alone in a Palace, but they don’t know what that person is after, nor what they would do to them. It was safer to avoid them. It didn’t seem like they were after the Thieves, so for now, they had no reason to hunt out this person.

“Let’s get going. The faster we finish this, the faster we can get out,” Joker said, getting up. Everyone followed suit, leaving the safe room back into the Palace.

~~~

“Oh, damn, this is pretty cool!” Skull yelled. His voice echoed within the bamboo forest, the soft chittering of bugs usually found not present. It was dead silent, and nothing moved. There was no wind, no rustling leaves, nothing. The group wandered further in before they saw another small opening. Jumping through led them to another landscape, this time on a boat in raging waters. Once again, the waves were big, but stationary. No sounds, no movement.

“Alright, we got the button! There should be a new opening!” A voice yelled from what seemed like the clouds. Right on cue, the boat that Skull, Joker, and Sky were on seemed to tear at a spot, opening a new rift. The three boys jumped in, which led them back to the forest. The forest also had a new opening, up by the rocks. Going through that, the world shimmered, bringing them to the opposite side of the room.

“Yo, guys, go through the paintings, it was hella cool!” Skull yelled out, seeing the image of their friends on the middle platform. The other three leaped down the platform, going through the painting at the bottom, which depicted a desert. When they entered, the boys could see them running in the frame, and seemingly disappear before entering the next frame. Before long, the others jumped out of the painting closest to them, which brought them back together.

“Hey, this part was actually quite cool. I like the aesthetic, even though the still worlds are kinda creepy,” Panther remarked as she leaped out, Fox and Mona right behind her. The artist hummed, looking back at the paintings.

“It makes sense, as paintings are meant to capture a moment in time. Therefore, they would be absolutely still, in that one moment in time. However, I can agree with you on the discomfort of being in one.” He made a frame with his fingers, looking at the different paintings present.

“Uh, Joker?” Said leader looked over at the navigator who called him.

“Problem.” He looked into the room that was in front of them. According to the map, the next room should have been the Treasure Hall area, but what met their eyes was definitely not that.

Gold was everywhere. The entire room, or more of just a space, was covered in gold and light. There were staircases leading up, down, left, right, across the entire space. Some looked to be made of canvas, while others were the same marble outside. Portraits were hung, much like at the front of the Palace, all across any empty walls.

Immediately after walking in, Sky cried out, head ringing. He stumbled, Skull supporting him. “Sky? What’s wrong?”

“Ah, shit, why does my head hurt so much?!” The navigator groaned, face scrunching up. Fox quickly moved in to help, supporting the navigator’s other side. Mona jumped in front, a serious look on his face.

“This place has an especially bad distortion, enough for it to not be a part of the map. It seems to be disconnected from the Palace entirely, except from the entrance and exit. Madarame’s distortion is strong enough to alter the logic in the Metaverse. Sky, whose Persona is a being of logic and reason, cannot comprehend the breaking of a world, which is why he’s in pain. We don’t experience that, since our Personas are grounded to ourselves, not the environment like Merlin is.” The cat looked over to the navigator in concern.

“Uhh, in Japanese?” Skull replied, clearly confused.

“Think of the Metaverse as our world. Sky’s like a phone with signal. But now we’re in like the countryside or something, and there’s no signal,” Joker explained roughly, and Skull took a while to wrap his brain around it.

“That’s great and all, but can we get moving? I don’t want to be here any longer than I need to,” Sky whimpered, feeling the piercing pain in his head. It felt like a really bad migraine, about to split his head in half. Merlin was yelling, just by being trapped in this space of distortion.

“Alright, Panther, you’re on watch duty. Mona, back up front. We need to hammer through this space quickly.” Joker commanded, immediately beginning to navigate through the space. The only thing they could rely on was Mona’s senses, since Sky was taken out of commission. The pain eased with some Dia spells from Panther, but it was basically impossible to concentrate enough to summon Merlin.

Passing through a doorway, the group appeared on the other end of the space. Joker made a sound of confusion, and just went with it. Fox hummed, musing to himself.

“Hey, isn’t that the ‘Sayuri’?” Sure enough, in the middle of this distorted space were two easels, both with an image of the ‘Sayuri’ on them. It made sense, since the ‘Sayuri’ was the beginning of Madarame’s career, and in turn, his distorted views.

“…This one is a counterfeit,” Fox remarked after examining the paintings closely.

“Aren’t all of the paintings fake, though?” Skull asked. He was right, in that every painting in the real world is fake. After all, they saw it with their own eyes, Madarame reproducing mass amounts of ‘Sayuri’ just for the sake of money.

“That may be true, but I can tell that this one is the original, even if it's an illusion. It is undoubtedly the work of art that got me inspired.” Fox was sure, the confidence in his voice not wavering.

Right as the artist said it, the real ‘Sayuri’ shimmered, turning into a small ball of light. The light flew upwards, towards a doorway that glowed a dark blue. When the light hit, the doorway shined brightly, becoming as bright as the landscape around them.

“What the eff? Did it just light a new path?” Skull scratched his head.

Mona scurried towards the new doorway. “It seems that finding the original forms a new path. Seeing through the fakes leads you to Madarame’s real self.”

“I guess we just go through those?” Sky suggested, headache mostly calmed. It still hurt, but not as much as it did before.

“Well, no harm in trying.” Sky wanted to say that there was plenty harm in trying, but that was irrelevant. He was the one who wanted to get out the most.

~~~

“Finally, we’re out!”

After multiple rounds of what amounted to a game of spot the difference with Fox and Joker, the group finally managed to get out of that accursed distortion space. Back in the museum that they were meant to be in, the navigator let out a sigh of relief, feeling the pain in his mind slowly die down.

They were in the Treasure Hall, with the Treasure within sight. It was right in front of them, guarded in a laser box. Much like Kamoshida’s Treasure, it was in the form of a shimmering light, not ready to be stolen just yet. It was on a pedestal, in the middle of the room. But right in front of it was Madarame himself.

The ruler of the Palace had a grimace on his face, keeping watch around the area. At his sides were guards, strong guards if what Joker said was accurate.

“So, are we done?” Skull asked. “We found the Treasure and everything, right?”

“Not quite. We need to find a route that can get us the Treasure, and we’re not quite there yet due to the lasers. It’ll be hard to force our way through on the day of the heist. Let’s look around first,” Mona suggested, keeping an eye on Madarame. The Thieves moved to the side of the hall, away from the main area. They soon found a small security office, to the left of the Treasure.

“Alright, let’s see what we can do,” Sky grinned, Merlin behind him. He stretched his fingers as Merlin vanished, the Persona diving into the network to see what can be accessed. Around them, the Thieves could hear multiple things go off. They hear sounds of grates opening, a crack of electricity, and finally, a blackout. Sky made a frustrated noise as he felt a resurgence of electricity, probably from a backup generator. It only was a few seconds, and the electricity was back.

“I couldn’t turn off the lasers, but I can cut the power for a few seconds. There were partitions blocking the path up towards the rafters, so I opened them. We can look there for a way around the lasers,” Sky informed, “and there might also be guards on the way. Makami, Mona can kill it as he comes in.”

Mona jumped into action the moment the guard walked in. Right as the guard was about to walk in, he was immediately surrounded by winds, tearing away his mask and stunning the Makami that appeared, as Sky had said. Immediately, Mona went for the kill with his scimitar, slicing the Shadow in half. The Shadow dissipated with a screech, and there was nothing left.

“I sometimes forget that Mona is actually hella experienced and can do things like that….” Panther whispered to Skull, who nodded, eyes not leaving the scene of carnage.

“Well, let’s get going.” The cat grinned, flicking the dust off of his scimitar.

Climbing up the winding corridors around the main room, the party encountered a few Shadows, all easily defeated without much trouble. The biggest problem they had was a Shiki-Ouji, who blocked most of their attacks. With the help of Merlin’s Critical Strike, however, it wasn’t that bad.

“Bingo,” Joker smirked. At the end of the hall was a room filled with equipment that controlled the mechanisms of the hall. Fox nodded, climbing up the small ladder to the side leading to the rafters. “How convenient.”

“And we’re right above it, too! With no lasers!” Skull exclaimed, glancing over the rafters.

“But how do we get down, though?” Panther asked, climbing onto the rafters behind the delinquent.

“With that.” Mona pointed towards the large hook above them. The cat snickered, looking back to the room. “There should be the controls for it somewhere here…”

“This thing?” Sky wondered, pulling a large lever. The hook began descending, reaching to right above the Treasure. Joker quickly flicked it back up, bringing the hook up before anyone noticed it. “Watch it, they might notice,” the leader warned.

“My bad,” Sky said, a bashful grin on his face. Joker waved for the rest to come back into the room to discuss.

“So, we can lower someone on the hook to avoid the lasers, and grab the Treasure,” Panther observed. Everyone immediately looked towards Mona, whose eyes glimmered at the chance of getting his hands on the Treasure.

“How about our escape route?” Skull asked, looking around. “It would be difficult to go back down the hallways and through the distorted space again, especially since it puts our navigator out of commission. Even worse if we’re found and need to fight Madarame in it.”

“He’s right. Sky can’t fight in that space and making a dash for it is too risky. Isn’t there another path down?” Panther asked, checking their surroundings.

“There,” Joker pointed towards the other side of the rafters, “a window. We can go down it to make sure it leads to a path outside, or at least away from the main part of the Palace.”

“It does.” The virtual map appeared at Sky’s command. A small indicator showed the path from the window, which led to the Central Garden, where they were stuck before. “If we follow this path, it’ll take us away from the main area of the Palace. We’ll end up at the Garden, and we can just exit from there.”

Sure enough, the path they followed down the side of the building did lead to the garden, where they had an established escape path.

“Then, we’re all set to send the calling card, right?” Panther cheered, pumping a fist into the air. They were done with infiltration.

All that was left was the heist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you enjoyed!


	15. The Sky's Resolve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Felt like I crammed a bit too much in this chapter, but whatever.

It was an off day for the Phantom Thieves. They had a period of time before they sent the calling card, and Akira wanted to get everything stocked up to prepare for the upcoming battle. So, while Akira goes around to prepare the necessary equipment and funds, the Thieves were doing training of their own.

“Ryuji, let it flow through you. You’re tensing up too much when you shoot, which causes it to go off center. Lady Ann, you’re doing fine, but try to focus it into a small ball of flames. Yusuke… good job. Hikaru, how far are you right now?”

 _“I’m headed towards Asakusa, but it’s still not a problem. I can hear all of you just fine. Do I leave the city to test limits?”_ A soft chuckle.

A loud zap interrupted their conversation. Morgana turned, seeing the target he set up entirely charred. They were in the Metaverse, but away from the Palace. Because of this, their Thief outfits didn’t materialize, and they had no masks to summon their Personas. It was as if they were in the real world.

“Hey, I did it!” Ryuji yelled out in excitement, causing sparks to erupt from his body. His bright yellow eyes seem to let out sparks of their own. The target in front of him was charred, with a large hole in the middle of it. A perfect strike.

Ann huffed in frustration as her flames enveloped the entire target once again, burning the sheet of paper into ashes. The flames seemed out of control, burning wildly and leaving nothing behind.

On the contrary, a sharp shard of ice pierced right in the middle of Yusuke’s target. “How are you so good at it, Yusuke? You only recently got your powers, and I’ve had mine for longer, but it’s still hard to control.”

“I find it similar to art. I imagine what I want to have, and I allow my body to make it work. Do not try to force it, or the work you do will be not genuine,” the artist suggested. Morgana meowed, bringing another target to the board they set up.

“He’s right. It is an extension of yourself, so you can easily control it. Just imagine what you want, and you will do it, whether you realize or not.”

_“Uh, Mona? I’m literally at the top of the Skytree. How far am I gonna go?”_

“Come on back. If you can reach that far, then it's good enough for us to communicate across most of Tokyo. Also, tell Akira where we are, he should be done soon with his part-time job.”

_“Sure. Also, anyone want a souvenir? It feels like a waste not getting something, since I never come here.”_

“Oh, get me a statue or something!” Ann requested. With an affirmative hum from Hikaru, the heir cut the connection. The model sighed, focusing on her powers again.

She thought of what Morgana and Yusuke said. Let the power control itself, just imagine it in your head. Ann closed her eyes, letting her mind form the target. She imagined a fireball, about the size of a baseball, form in her palms. It burned brightly, but it didn’t hurt her. She threw the ball towards the center of the target, causing a small flame to form in the center.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that everything was exactly like she imagined. She shouted with joy, jumping up. “I did it!” The Thieves smiled at that.

~~~

Hikaru hummed softly as he wandered around the Sky Tower, his dark blue eyes watching the environment around him. Maybe he’ll get a snack or something on his way back. It was still quite early in the afternoon, and they didn’t have much for lunch. The group would probably appreciate some food.

 _“Hey, Akira? Where are you?”_ It didn’t take long for their leader to respond.

_I’m at the flower shop in the Shibuya Underground Mall. Is something the problem?_

_“No, I just need to come get you and lead you to the group, since we’re practicing in the Metaverse. Also, do you want anything from the Skytree?”_

_Like, Asakusa Skytree?_

_“Yeah. I’m limit testing, and it seems that my range is definitely big enough to cover almost all of Tokyo, so I’m good. But since I’m here…”_

The heir’s thoughts were interrupted as he ran into someone, causing him to stumble and lose his balance. The stranger immediately placed a hand on his shoulder, stabilizing him. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” the person apologized.

“Oh, no, it’s my bad…” Hikaru said, looking up. And the person he saw was no other than the famous Detective Prince himself, Goro Akechi. He let out a silent gasp of surprise at seeing the famous detective, who chuckled at seeing who he ran into. “Oh, you’re Hikaru Aozora, are you not?” Hikaru quickly composed himself.

“Yes, and you’re Goro Akechi, the Detective Prince.” The teen smiled, reaching a hand out for a handshake. Hikaru shook it out of courtesy, apologizing again for running into the man. The detective smiled kindly. “No worries. I am partially at fault here for not paying attention as I walk.”

Hikaru’s velvet blue eyes gleamed as he noticed something he didn’t see before. It was strange, some kind of aura emanating from the celebrity. Unlike his attitude, it was dark, twisted. Something was wrong here. The heir’s eyes hardened but kept his kind smile on his face. The detective seemed slightly taken aback at his change in demeanor but otherwise unaffected. Then it hit him. What better time to test his powers?

_Stupid kid. I have no time for you, he’s getting me to do his shit again. I haven’t even dealt with the artist yet, and he’s already giving me more targets…_

Hikaru’s eyes widened slightly, but he gave no other indication that he heard any of that.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go. It was nice to meet you, Akechi-san. Once again, I’m sorry for running into you.” Hikaru bowed, which was waved off by the detective. “Not an issue. I have to be going as well, so I’ll see you around.”

Hikaru’s smile immediately dropped once the detective turned away and left. He quickly walked away, a serious expression on his face. Within his mind, he conversed with his Persona.

 _“That was him, right?”_ The heir was sure. He knew that he had felt that aura before, and he hated that it came from such a person. Goro Akechi was seen as one of the lead detectives for the mental shutdown case that has been arising in the city. He was an individual who had public influence, higher standing, and governmental backing. All tools that if used correctly, could shut down the Phantom Thieves for good.

 _“No doubt about it. You have powerful enemies, Young Master. Better watch out,”_ Merlin replied. That just confirmed it. Snacks and souvenirs were forgotten as he rushed to get out of the building.

Hikaru got into the train headed towards Shibuya. He needed to tell everyone as soon as possible, but for now, he had to make sure that the Thieves stayed off of their radar as long as they could. If they were discovered, it would be the end of them before they could even think.

However, it seemed that Akechi doesn’t suspect any of them so far. They were fine for now. After all, the change of hearts has only affected one person and is still not a major event in the world. But if the direction the Thieves are going is solidified, then they will eventually have to deal with this issue.

The heir sighed, closing his sky-blue eyes. He left the train as it arrived at his stop, looking around to find his way. Going through the Underground Mall, he made his way to the only flower shop in the mall. It was away from the main area and was quite small, but it made up for that in terms of atmosphere. It was a very comfortable store, with the right amount of flowers and scents to not make you dizzy. As he entered, a worker came up to him.

“Welcome! Can I help you?” she greeted, her hands clasped politely in front of her.

“Ah, is Kurusu-kun here? I’m here to pick him up,” was the reply. The girl nodded and went into the back of the store to call Akira, Hikaru assumed. Soon enough, Akira came out, smiling and waving when he saw the heir. This immediately faded at seeing the concerning look on his face. Hikaru gave him a small smile, shaking his head. They’ll discuss it later.

“Well, enjoy yourself, Kurusu-kun. Just tell me when you can come in next, alright?” Akira nodded, and the two of them left the store. Hikaru brought him up to the station and pulled out his phone, bringing them into the Metaverse. From there, he went away from Mementos, pulling him towards one of the few buildings around the Palace.

“Hey, you guys are here! Look!” Ann exclaimed, launching a fireball towards Yusuke, who deflected it with a small ice wall. Ryuji’s lightning was aimed towards Morgana, who dodged nimbly and reflected it with his wind attacks, which blew the boy off his feet. It was a bit dangerous, but it gave Ann the chance to practice healing spells as well if needed.

“I assume it’s going well, judging by what’s going on,” Akira said, looking around. There were no signs of injuries, which meant that they all had good control of their powers.

“It began on a rough start, but they’re getting used to it,” Morgana informed, standing in front of his caretaker. “You need practice, too. Especially since you control so many different Personas, each with their own unique skills. I’m assuming based on your current Persona, you will have different abilities corresponding to them.”

“I tried it, and it seems so. But it isn’t as bad as you think it is. I think I got the elemental powers down already, it’s just the more volatile powers, like Nuclear and Psychokinesis. Since we haven’t really seen how those elements work in the Metaverse, it’s kind of hard to understand how they work.”

As Morgana led Akira towards their makeshift training grounds, Ryuji approached Hikaru. The heir had been silent the entire time he came in, eyes not focused on the current situation. He was lost in his thoughts, thinking about his new discovery and what this implied. How far did the web of corruption stretch?

“You alright?” The delinquent’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Hikaru nodded, sending a reassuring smile towards the blond. “It’s nothing. I’m just thinking. I’ll tell you all later, alright? Later, during dinner or something.”

“Alright, if you say so. Say, can you help me with something?”

Hikaru turned to his friend. “Yeah?”

“Your power gives you basically vision on anyone at any time, yeah?” Hikaru nodded, not knowing where he was going with this.

“Can you help me watch someone?” The blond’s eyes gleamed dangerously, almost lethal. The heir raised an eyebrow. The delinquent was usually not like this. Sure, he was hot-headed, but he was usually calm and bright around the heir, considering their past. Ryuji didn’t want to make the same mistake, after all.

“Sure. Do I know them?”

“Yeah. You know Yamauchi?” Oh. So that’s what this was about. That made sense, since it was the passion Kamoshida stole from the teen.

“Sure. What do you want to know?”

“I need evidence that he’s as corrupt as Kamoshida and does not care at all about the track team. Takeishi and the guys won’t take my word about it. I just need a day that he’ll be drinking, so that something slips.”

Hikaru stared at the blond, watching his face. Ryuji was serious, his eyes unwavering. Not a single ounce of hesitation in his face. He needed Hikaru’s help to help the track team, and clearly, even if the heir didn’t help, he would do it anyway. Hikaru hummed, a smile stretching across his face. What kind of friend would he be if he left Ryuji to suffer alone?

“Try tomorrow.” A confused look crawled onto his face.

“What do you mean? Tomorrow what?” Hikaru let out a smirk.

“You need a day? Tomorrow.” Ryuji’s mouth fell open.

“Wait, that’s it? I thought it’d take longer than that!” Hikaru laughed. He already knew that Ryuji has been talking to the track team. Yamauchi would logically be the next step if that didn’t work.

“He goes drinking every week, on Mondays after school. Plus, if I told you I saw this coming and found out beforehand?” Ryuji stayed silent, stunned. Hikaru chuckled, seeing Ryuji’s expression. After a moment, Ryuji laughed as well.

“Then I would say thank you. You know, I’m glad I have a friend like you.”

“What, powerful enough to be able to help you with whatever you want?” Hikaru asked sarcastically. However, he knew that in his heart, some part of him wanted the affirmation that what happened won’t happen again. That power and social standing won’t get in between them anymore.

“No, dude. A friend that’s observant enough to know when a friend’s struggling, and kind enough to go through the trouble for helping him, even when they didn’t say a single thing. Thanks, Hikaru.” The blond’s words shook him to the core. He could feel his eyes water, but he blinked it back. He let out a shaky laugh, a grin growing on his face. He felt a pat on his back and turned over to see his friend return the grin.

“No problem, Ryuji.”

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_AK:_ ** _Akechi, huh…_

**_RS:_ ** _still have no idea who he is_

**_HA:_ ** _He’s praised as the 2nd Detective Prince, after Shirogane Naoto. Currently hes the one in charge for the mental shutdown cases, and recently, the Kamoshida case_

**_AT:_ ** _Are you sure, Hikaru?_

**_HA:_ ** _almost a 100%. he’s hiding something, that parts certain_

**_YK:_ ** _I must say, I don’t know enough about him to make an opinion. For now, we should be cautious and quickly change Madarame’s heart._

**_RS:_ ** _yeah, when we doing the heist?_

**_AK:_ ** _I need like 2 more days to scrap together funds for weapons, so after that we can send the calling card_

**_HA:_ ** _you do know i can basically cover all the costs right_

**_AK:_ ** _its fine im the leader_

**_HA:_ ** _Akira_

**_AK:_ ** _listen its actually fine killing shadows already give plenty of money for some reason_

**_AK:_ ** _and then the items we get in palaces i sell for a decent sum_

**_AK:_ ** _so its fine_

**_AK:_ ** _if anything I’m earning money in all of this_

**_AT:_ ** _…._

**_RS:_ ** _dude you know we can split the funds right_

**_RS:_ ** _i might not have much but i want to contribute somehow_

**_AT:_ ** _Same_

**_AT:_ ** _I have decent money from my modelling job, so I can pay my own weapons if you need_

**_YK:_ ** _I’m sorry, but I’m quite tight on funds. I am willing to work some part time jobs to raise funds, if it is needed._

**_AK:_ ** _again its fine, appreciate it though_

**_AK:_ ** _if money is rough i’ll tell you guys alright_

**_HA:_ ** _if you say so :/_

**_AT:_ ** _Back to Akechi_

**_AT:_ ** _Game plan?_

**_HA:_ ** _don’t engage under any circumstances_

**_HA:_ ** _if any of you see him, we immediately leave_

**_HA:_ ** _he’s too strong for us to fight, even with numbers advantage_

**_HA:_ ** _we have numbers, but he has way more experience, if he was the one behind the shutdowns_

**_HA:_ ** _plus, we need to keep our existence hidden for as long as we can_

**_HA:_ ** _which won’t be long, seeing as we’re making a scene with Madarame already_

**_AK:_ ** _you heard the man_

**_AK:_ ** _everyone keep an eye out, and watch for any strange occurrences_

**_RS:_ ** _god the reality of everything is starting to hit me_

**_RS:_ ** _its starting to feel like we’re actual phantom thieves_

**_AT:_ ** _We always were, but ok_

**_YK:_ ** _The calling card is coming nicely. I believe it will be done soon._

**_AK:_ ** _nice we’ll destroy the palace on Wednesday then_

**_AT:_ ** _Sounds good!_

**_YK:_ ** _Understood._

**_HA:_ ** _roger_

**_RS:_ ** _got it_

**_AK:_ ** _alright go to sleep nerds_

**_AT:_ ** _You have the second highest grade in class but ok_

**_HA:_ ** _lmao nerd_

**_AT:_ ** _And you have the highest_

“Alright, everyone knows the plan?” Joker confirmed, looking over the rafters at the formed Treasure. It was covered by a purple tarp, with guards swarming around the place. Everyone was on high alert after the calling card, similar to Kamoshida’s Palace. The Thieves nodded, Skull and Panther watching their backs.

“At your lead, Joker.”

“Alright, let’s begin this heist!” As those words left the leader’s mouth, the building turned dark, panic beginning to arise on the main floor. The hook above the Treasure was lowered, Mona hanging off of it. The cat made a squeal of excitement as he was brought closer to the Treasure. Some Shadows had made their way up to the control room once they realized what was happening, but the darkness gave the Thieves the advantage needed. They were already waiting, right above the entryway.

 _“Fox, Skull, you’re powered up!”_ Their Personas roared in response, receiving a critical buff from Merlin. Their next Physical attack tore through the Shadows below them before they could even turn around, leaving nothing but dust in their wake.

_“I got it!”_

_“Joker, pull up!”_ Panther thought, trusting their navigator to connect them through the darkness, since they needed to be silent with limited vision. Immediately, the hook began reeling up, the cat letting out a small meow of excitement.

_“Alright, everyone out! Evacuation Protocol!”_

Sky and Panther led the way, jumping out of the window and began their way down the building. In the middle were Mona and Fox, both securing the Treasure and their flanks. They were the ones with immobilizing abilities: with Fox’s ice and Mona’s control over winds, they would be the best at deterring any attackers from the side. Finally, the heavy hitters stayed at the back. Joker could cover any magic damage needed, while Skull provided heavy physical damage with his Persona or his shotgun.

Alarms began blaring as the group scaled down the side of the building. It didn’t seem like any Shadows were following them, but the Thieves didn’t take any chances. They moved as quickly as they could, keeping the Treasure in the middle of the group.

Sky made a ‘tsk’ noise as he pulled up images of the Palace. Almost the entire Palace was empty, guards seemingly missing. It didn’t ease the worry that the navigator felt, but there was nothing that he could do about it. They had to move if they wanted to do this right.

As planned, they made it to the Central Garden without any opposition. From here, it was a sprint to the outside. But it seemed Mona’s instincts took over.

“Meow, I can’t take it anymore!” The cat laid the Treasure on the floor and yanked the tarp off, an excited grin on his face. It immediately devolved into a look of confusion at seeing what was underneath. “Huh?” It wasn’t the Treasure. It was a trap. What should have been beautiful and pristine, the core of this Palace, was instead a crappy doodle in a frame.

“We’ve been fooled,” Joker growled. Before they could think of their next steps, Fox yelled, “Get back!”

Almost instinctually, the Phantom Thieves jumped back just as the lasers around them activated. They turned their heads towards the entrance of the garden, hearing footsteps approach. It was Madarame, a large scowl on his face. “You meddlesome rats,” he scoffed.

“Is this what you wanted?” Madarame grinned, gesturing to a painting a guard was carrying. The frame itself was already entirely different, made of the gold seen around the Palace, not of the dull wood of the fake.

“Why did you become like this?! Was it fame that twisted you? I trusted you! You were my foster father, and it pains me to ask this!” Fox cried out, a sharp glare in his eyes.

“I only adopted you because of my ties to your mother. She never lost her passion, and that was what I was looking for. Every work of art she made and she herself were all my work! I suppose I can spare a glance at the true core of this world…” Madarame laughed to himself, nodding at the guard. It lifted the painting, letting the Thieves see the Treasure in its true form.

It was the ‘Sayuri’, but the fog has been lifted. The greatest mystery of the ‘Sayuri’ was that no one knew what the woman was looking at, what she was holding. Some speculated a bouquet of flowers, others a relic of a broken relationship. What could have drawn the woman’s gaze so sharply, with such a loving expression on her face?

Now, they knew.

In the woman’s arms was a baby wrapped within a blanket. The child had a small smile on his face, matching the mysterious smile of the woman. It was truly a work of art, showcasing the beautiful love and sacrifice of a mother.

Sky couldn’t help but tear up as he looked into the painting. It reminded him so much of his own father, who has worked so hard to make sure that his son remained safe; that no matter what happened, it would be fine, as long as Hikaru was alive and well.

And this turned into pure anger, at Madarame for ruining this beautiful bond just for the sake of money. His blood boiled at thinking about how such a kind image has been exploited for evil purposes.

“Mom…” Fox had muttered, eyes wide in shock.

“That’s right, your mother had painted this. A self-portrait, reflecting her last wishes for her son as her death approached. That’s the truth behind it!” Madarame’s grin widened, turning sinister. Skull’s eyes narrowed under his mask, face hardening. “You stole something that important to someone? Something that personal?!”

“I knew that it would be a success, with just a few touches.” Sky could see that Skull was itching for his weapon, as shown by his clenched fist. At this point, the navigator doesn’t know if he can stop him. He might just steal Joker’s pistol and do it himself.

“Why did you paint over the baby?” Fox muttered, voice cold and deadly.

“It was for the publicity, of course. The general public loves mysterious pieces like this, and this would be perfect! You’ve read the reviews. Never-ending speculation about the woman’s expression keeps the painting in relevance, allowing it to generate more revenue by the minute!”

“You’re the absolute worst. I can’t believe I was actually one of the people who liked ‘your’ work,” Panther spat out.

“Tell me one last thing, Madarame.” Fox’s voice remained the same, frigid and unchanging.

“I’ve heard that you destroy your ‘art’ once they outlive their usefulness…” Sky froze at the implication.

“It just so happened that your mother had a seizure in front of me. I then had a thought that if I left her, her painting would fall into my hands.” Sky could feel his hands trembling with anxiety. In his mind was replays of his own mother, bloody and dying in his hands. His breaths grew ragged, panicked.

“She was physically weak, after all. It wouldn’t be a surprise if she just dropped dead. I took you in to avoid you discovering the ‘Sayuri’, but your artistic talent was a pleasant surprise. It would be so much easier to steal the future of young idiots who don’t know anything.”

Sky was shaking like a leaf. His eyes were wide, panic running through his bones. The same image was stuck in his mind, forcing him to relive the saddest day in his life, over and over again.

Everything was interrupted when he heard a voice in his head.

_Everything’s okay, Hikaru. You’re fine, okay?_

He turned to look at their leader, who nodded at him with a smile on his face.

_“Is it? Am I? Everything feels wrong…”_

_Look at me. Breathe. One, two, three. Now focus on Merlin._

Sky focused on Joker’s crimson irises as he took a deep, silent breath, following Joker’s counting. His consciousness wandered to the voice at the back of his mind.

~~~

Everything was dark, with swirls of gentle mist around him. Sky trembled, slowly walking. Visions of what happened flashed brightly, causing the navigator to flinch. He watched again as his mother died, her bloody body all he could see. He watched as Naoki threw him to the ground, beating him up for a crime he didn’t know he committed. He watched as Shiho’s limp body got carted into the ambulance, while he did nothing to help.

_“I knew it, I’m just useless…”_

Hikaru felt as his mask burned off, revealing the true him underneath. A scared, anxious boy hidden under layers and layers of false emotions, just to make sure he can go on. Tears began flowing, Hikaru crumbling as he was laid bare for the world to see.

_“I’m sorry, Dad, I’m not someone who you could be proud in…”_

Images of his father, silent throughout his mother’s funeral. The man crying silently, while Hikaru slept in another room. The darkness seemed to be approaching, reaching out to try and grab him, tear him apart.

But another being wrapped him in a gentle light, fending off the darkness. He looked up, eyes wide.

His Persona was there, smiling at him. He tentatively approached the spirit, feeling strangely vulnerable, not what he normally felt like as a Thief. Reaching a hand out, the Persona grasped it, glowing brightly.

_“Eyes forward, alright? I’ll be your guide. Let me help.”_

_~~~_

Sky snapped back into reality, his eyes turning a dark blue; the blue of the flames around him. He saw Madarame begin to melt into black goo, turning into his true form: four paintings; two of eyes, a nose, and a mouth. The navigator auto-piloted into battle mode, mind blanking as he focused on the battle.

“The eyes absorb magic, and the mouth absorbs physicals! Prioritize one form for a multi attack, and then down the other piece!” He yelled out, coordinating the group’s attacks. Joker, being the nimblest, managed to get a strong Physical attack in, damaging the nose heavily.

“Sky, attacks?!” Joker jumped back, avoiding the mouth attempting to bite him.

“The eyes are support! Nose does magical, mouth physical! Skull, Fox, hit hard!” The two Physical Personas charged in for the attack, each causing an eye to fall onto the ground, unmoving. The nose immediately charged an elemental attack, aiming for Skull. Ice began to crawl up his feet, but immediately began to melt with a controlled Agi from Panther.

“I got you guys! Blast the mouth with magic!” The fire user shouted, lashing her whip at the nose. It began to sniffle, causing Sky’s readings to blare a red alert. It was charging an attack, about to attack Panther, who was acting as support.

“Panther, watch out!” It was too late. The nose snorted out some sort of black goo, covering the girl. It didn’t seem to have any immediate attacks, but Sky’s readings were going haywire. That goo was dangerous, for some reason. But, for now, he didn’t know what it does. “Careful! That goo is weird!”

“Panther, swap out for now, I’ll take over!” Mona cried, jumping into the fray. Panther leaped back towards Sky, pulling out her gun to provide long-range support if needed. Sky, meanwhile, grabbed a small amount of the goo on his finger, letting Merlin analyze the substance. He noticed that Panther seemed frailer, almost weaker. A basic level scan told him everything.

Her strengths were suppressed, weaknesses everywhere. Across the row, she was weak. The goo made her susceptible to any form of attack, every type of physical and magical attack. The goo itself otherwise was harmless. It was like a layer of paint, painting over the attributes of their Personas.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” The mouth growled, dashing at an incredible speed towards the two at the back. Sky tackled Panther, knocking her away from a bite that would have allowed it to knock her out. Joker quickly responded, blasting it with strong winds, dropping the painting on the ground, immobile.

“Thanks,” she muttered, Sky responding with a grin. Pulling her up, they turned his attention back to the group, who were pointing their guns towards Madarame, who emerged from the shadows of the paintings.

“This isn’t it! I am the great artist Madarame! The god of the art world!” He growled, hands swirling with power. He struck with multiple magic missiles, but easily countered by Mona’s steady healing. Joker called for an All-Out Attack, getting multiple cuts and bruises on the Palace ruler. Madarame roared, vanishing back into the shadows. The paintings reappeared, no signs of their previous attacks on it at all.

“The paintings are back, regroup!” Joker commanded, jumping back. However, it seemed that Skull’s leg acted up, as the lightning user stumbled and fell right in front of the Shadow. The mouth sneered at the boy, a creepy grin growing on the painting. The two eyes blinked, strengthening the attacks from the other two paintings. The nose took its given chance and attacked with a wind attack.

Skull howled in pain as the winds cut him, blowing him back towards where Sky and Panther were. He landed right in front of them, slowly stumbling to his feet. Panther tried to summon the energy for a healing spell, but she was still severely weakened from before. However, the mouth didn’t let them, moving in immediately for a bite to knock Skull out of commission. He was already weak from the winds, a strengthened bite from the painting would critically hurt him. Panther, on the other hand, couldn’t take another hit, as she was still covered in the weakening goo.

“I’ll start by taking out this rat!” Madarame roared, nose once again blowing strong winds, knocking up dust around them. The others were too far to interfere, especially with the dust and eyes blocking their attacks. “Skull!” Joker yelled, panicked. Sky was stuck. He couldn’t do anything, with his two weakened allies beside him. Neither of them would survive another hit. What could he do?

Why couldn’t he do anything? He forced himself to move, to do something.

_“You are stronger than you think, Young Master.”_

~~~

“Oh?”

Elizabeth grinned, her book flipping open on its own. Magic began flowing from it, lighting the dark Velvet Room with a bright yellow, turning into a dark blue after a moment.

“He’s growing quite quickly, isn’t he?”

“Of course he is,” was the reply. Theodore sighed, rolling his eyes. He flicked his wrist, dissolving the map of the Sea of Souls in front of him. “He had potential all this while, and with Merlin beside him, of course he’ll grow stronger.”

“Fair enough. Say, Theodore, when is Margaret coming back? She’ll be interested in this.”

“Who knows?”

~~~

Skull closed his eyes and braced for impact, but it never came. When he dared to open them again, he let out a short gasp. They were surrounded by a blue barrier, which blocked the two attacks from the paintings. In the middle of the barrier was Sky, his hands planted on the ground. The navigator had his eyes closed, his breaths shallow and quick. Behind him was his Persona, staff raised towards the sky, barrier coming from the tip of his staff.

“Skull! Panther! Are you guys alright?!” Joker’s concerned cry came, quickly followed by a blast of magic that flung the two paintings away. He stopped at seeing the barrier in front of him, with two shocked Thieves inside. Once the imminent threat was over, Merlin lowered the barrier, vanishing into the familiar blue flames. Sky, on the other hand, was still crouched on the floor, eyes still closed.

“Sky?” Joker crouched down, just as the navigator began to fall over. The leader quickly reached out to catch Sky, who seemed unconscious. He laid him gently on the ground. “Mona, status check.”

“He’s fine, just over exhausted himself. I’ll keep an eye on him, but we should finish this quickly. He’s too vulnerable, so we should get him out as soon as we can.” Mona said, going over to Sky’s side.

“You heard him. Fox, Skull, front line with me. Panther, long-range support. We’ll have to power through this. Skull, are you alright?” Joker said, getting onto his feet.

“Yeah, as long as Panther can provide some healing, I’ll be fine. Plus, I need to pay Sky back for saving me, don’t I?” Skull replied, a grin on his face. They turned towards the golden artist, who has once again emerged from the fallen paintings, a glare on his face.

“Phantom Thieves, full power!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first semester in university is coming to an end, so I have more time to upload all of this. Don't be surprised if I started to do 3 a day or something. I just need to proofread and post, I could do the rest in one day if I wanted.


	16. A Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am perfectly aware that Fire abilities don't work as boosters. I took Physics. But it's the Metaverse, so just roll with it.   
> Do I need to do a trigger warning for a sad backstory? I'll say it, just in case.

Hikaru groaned, slowly opening his eyes, clutching his head. There was a harsh light with multiple shadows, but his brain was too groggy to actually make out what he was seeing. Silent whispers were exchanged all around him, but one voice stood out.

“Are you alright, Hikaru?”

The shadow in front of him shoved the others away, letting the boy slowly sit up. The bright lights above his head hurt his eyes, causing him to let out a little groan of discomfort. His hand came to cover the lights, allowing his eyes to slowly adjust to the brightness.

“What happened…?” The heir muttered, looking around once his eyes adapted to the light. He was in Shibuya, if the large number of people and stores nearby meant anything. Akira was right in front of him, with Ryuji and Ann beside him. Ann shouted in relief when Hikaru got up and hugged him, generating a sound of confusion from Hikaru.

“Wh-Ann?” Hikaru questioned, not being able to do much except sit there and accept it. His limbs felt like lead and his head felt like someone took a blender and blended his brain.

“You ok?” Ryuji asked, a grateful smile on his face. He handed Hikaru a bottle of water, which the heir thanked him, taking a sip. His throat was parched.

“Yeah, I think so. It hurts all over a bit, but other than that, I think I’m fine. What happened?” The heir replied, looking towards Akira.

“You blocked two strong attacks for Skull and Panther, saving their lives. You passed out, though, due to overexerting yourself. You gave us quite the scare, though,” Akira said, taking a seat on the bench. He grinned at the heir. “Didn’t know you could do that either.”

“Neither did I…” Hikaru muttered. As Akira explained, the memories began to flow. All he remembered was reaching out to Merlin for a last-ditch effort, to protect his friends. In his mind was just nothing but _protect_. He couldn’t just sit there and watch, not after all that they’ve done for him.

“You were so freakin’ sick! I thought it was gonna be over for me, but you tanked all of that!” Ryuji exclaimed excitedly, a light in his eyes.

“Yeah, we thought we were goners…” Ann whispered.

“All I remember was trying to use my Persona in a last-ditch effort, and I guess it responded with a barrier… But what happened after?”

“We finished the battle quickly. Mona was defending you, so we just went full power on Madarame’s paintings. We had an issue as they began reviving each other, but we powered through, targeting the nose and mouth paintings first. After that, Madarame himself wasn’t that bad. He could barely attack with how weak his actual magic was.” Akira recapped, Morgana nodding on his shoulder.

“This was the Treasure manifested into the real world,” Yusuke said, unveiling the image of ‘Sayuri’ that Madarame showed in the Palace. “I was told that Kamoshida’s Treasure manifested in a different form from what was seen in the Palace. I wish I could have seen what it looks like,” he mused.

“Getting out was a bit of trouble, but we had a Mona car, so…” Akira chuckled, running his hand through his messy hair.

_“Shit, we need to get out!” Skull cursed, Sky still on his back. He felt a personal responsibility to take care of the unconscious navigator, especially after he saved the lightning user’s life._

_“We can’t get out in time, the main entrance is already collapsed!” Panther said urgently as more of the building began to cave in. The main area of the Palace was already collapsed, with the tall skyscraper crumbling in on itself._

_“Everyone, this way!” Fox called, towards a tall wall of the courtyard. Pulling off his mask, blue flames began surrounding the artist, summoning his Persona. With a stomp of Goemon’s foot, ice began growing on the ground, forming a ramp of ice._

_“Nice one, Fox! Everyone, get in!” Mona yelled, backflipping into his car form. The group quickly got in as debris began to fall towards them._

_“Go, go, go! Full speed!” Joker shouted in alarm, slamming the accelerator. Mona began to move, but at this rate, it won’t be enough to outrun the debris._

_“Panther, give us boosters!” The girl opened the back of the Mona car, and let out the largest flames she could. With the extra throttle, the van rushed forward, sliding off the ice ramp and launching them into the sky. Screams could be heard as the Thieves were subject to gravity, slowing to a stop before beginning to fall downwards, speeding up as they went._

_“Oh, fuck!!”_

“And then Mona saved us with a strong Garu. We were almost goners, believe it or not…”

Hikaru let out a small chuckle at hearing the story. It was funny, how the Phantom Thieves were a lot less organized than what people thought. From what he could get from rumors, people thought that the Phantom Thieves had to be some sort of elite criminal group, with proper plans, and managed to do the impossible. Episodes like these just reminded him that the Thieves were actually just dorks running around and doing what most can’t.

“It’s getting late…” Yusuke remarked, looking at his watch. He gripped the painting under his arm. “We should discuss the details tomorrow, should we not? I feel that we are all exhausted from that battle.” 

“Will you be fine going home, Hikaru?” Ann asked, concerned.

“I think I’m fine, just exhausted.” The heir stumbled onto his feet, slowly straightening himself. He shook his head, feeling the headache from earlier beginning to die out. His eyes were a bit sore, but nothing a good night’s rest wouldn’t fix. Plus, it gave him reassurance that the Treasure was taken.

“Then we’ll regroup again tomorrow to discuss everything, alright?” Morgana summarized, hopping back into Akira’s bag. He meowed, snuggling in so that only his head pops out from the bag.

“No complaints here. I’m pooped,” Ryuji groaned, leaning back on the bench.

“Alright. I need to get going before the Boss gets on my case. See you all tomorrow,” Akira waved, grabbing Morgana with him as he left towards the station.

“I should make my way to the dorms, before curfew hits… I’ll see you all tomorrow,” Yusuke muttered, nodding politely, and taking his leave.

“What time is it?” Hikaru groaned, pulling out his phone. The display showed that it was only eight. It was still early, contrary to what the heir had thought, with how groggy he felt.

“You want to go get dinner? We’re already here anyway, and I don’t need to be home anytime soon…” Ryuji suggested with a goofy smile on his face. It wasn’t like they had anything else to do, plus the heir had plenty of rest already.

“Sure. Lead the way.”

~~~

“Hey, Hikaru, can I talk to you?”

It has been a few days since the Phantom Thieves have stolen Madarame’s Treasure. All that was left to do was just wait for the confession. It was after school, on an idle day where there wasn’t much planned. Akira approached him on one of these days after school, Morgana not in his bag. Hikaru noticed that, raising an eyebrow.

“Sure, but where’s Mona? Isn’t he with you?”

“He said he had to go investigate something. Meanwhile, I wanted to ask you something. Can we talk in private somewhere?” Hikaru nodded, getting up and following Akira’s lead. The quiet leader brought Hikaru to the rooftop, leaning onto one of the desks all over.

“Are you alright?”

Hikaru startled in confusion at Akira’s question. “Uh, where did this come from?”

“Well, it’s mainly a couple of things. Remember that breakdown after just seeing Kamoshida? Plus that panic attack right before fighting Madarame? It might not be my place to ask, but is everything fine?” Akira crossed his arms. “I’m worried as not just the leader of the Phantom Thieves, but also as your friend, Hikaru.”

“…I’m fine, Akira. Don’t worry about it, ok?” After a moment of silence, Hikaru’s reply was shaky, scared. Anyone could obviously tell that his words were a lie. But did Akira really need to press him further? The heir was smart, one of the smartest people he knew. Was he in a position to really try to tell him what to do, when the heir seemed perfectly fine? The other side of this argument would be that Hikaru’s his friend, and therefore he is right in trying to care for him and his mental state, even if it might be intrusive of him. In moments like this, Akira wished he had Morgana to advise him on what to do.

“…If you say so. Just know that no matter what, we’re here to help, alright? Not just me, all of us.” Hikaru let out a gentle smile.

“Yeah, I know. Just… give me time, alright?” That was the best Akira would get, he felt. He was definitely an outsider to this, and Hikaru didn’t owe him anything to tell Akira every small problem in his heart. At least this was a small step towards that.

“Take as long as you need. I’m not here to force you to spill or anything, we all have our secrets. I mean, you know mine.” That made Hikaru chuckle. Akira grinned himself, scratching the back of his neck.

“Well, you had a bunch of weird jobs, but that was the funniest one I found. You’re quite the workaholic, aren’t you?” Hikaru sat on the desk beside Akira, eyes wandering around the rooftop.

“Money had to come somewhere for me, and it certainly wasn’t going to come from my parents. I learned at a young age that you had to work hard to make a living.” Hikaru’s smile slowly faded into a neutral expression.

As the conversation slowly continued, Akira realized something that was different from his other Confidants: Hikaru seemed to always be the one listening to him talk. Usually, Akira listened in on troubles or problems the Confidant had and advised them on what to do, but Hikaru was different. With Hikaru, he was the one spilling his issues, with the heir there to advise him or laugh with him as he reflected.

Instead of having to put on different Personas, Hikaru revealed the true him.

Akira smiled at the thought. Being around the heir was comforting, relaxing. It was a nice break from dealing with issues like Palace deadlines, juggling different issues, and even Mementos requests on top of that.

“Akira, I’m just curious, but how do your powers work? I’ve never seen you use them, and with your multiple Personas, do you just have like ten different voices in your head?” Hikaru asked, now lying down on a desk.

“I mean, yeah, basically. It can get quite chaotic, but they quiet down when I’m talking to people. If anything, it gives me fresh perspectives on different issues. As for powers, I can access whatever the Persona has. For example, if any of my Personas currently have a Zio skill, I can use it. I was practicing a few days ago with all the skills I have, and honestly, I can tell you Psy skills are the most dangerous, but the most fun.”

“Go on,” Hikaru encouraged, eyes closing.

“I tried a Psi in the Metaverse with Morgana, and I managed to somehow turn a soda can inside out with no bends or creases whatsoever. It was really weird, but I also could fling things back and forth. That’s the fun part. I also managed to distort a building’s base with a Psio, sending the entire thing crashing down and almost burying Mona.”

“So this is where you guys were!” The door burst open, revealing the two blondes in the group. Ann sighed, resting a hand on her hip. “Don’t any of you check your phones?”

Both Akira and Hikaru pulled out their phones, seeing that they indeed did miss a bunch of messages from Ryuji and Ann.

“What the hell are you all even doing here?” Ryuji groaned, plopping himself by Hikaru.

“I was asking about our next target. Hikaru, did you find anyone that would fit the bill?” Ann looked back down the staircase to check that no one was on them and closed the door. “Just in case that president’s on us,” she explained.

“She’s nowhere close, but sure,” Hikaru remarked, closing his eyes again. Ann chose to ignore that statement, flicking the heir on the arm as she moved to sit on the desk next to him.

“Did you guys decide on the social studies trip already?” She brought up, playing with a strand of Hikaru’s hair. The heir didn’t seem to care, not even bothering to open his eyes.

“I think I’m going for the TV station. The other thing sounds awful. I mean, who would want to willingly go to a rubber factory?” Akira replied, rolling his eyes.

“Same here. Isn’t the TV station owned by your family, Hikaru? It would be interesting to see an Aozora TV station!” Hikaru hummed, sitting up.

“Yeah. My father was the one who offered it to boost rep, and the school accepted. From what I know, we’re going to be sitting in on some boring interview, not some drama filming or anything, so don’t expect famous actors or anything.” Ann huffed at that.

“Can I just skip the social studies trip?” Ryuji asked. “It sounds so annoying…”

“I think I have to go to work now… My boss is calling me in. Something about a rush hour and needing more hands. We can discuss this later, alright?” Akira got up, grabbing his bag on his way out. Right before leaving, he turned his head to Hikaru. “Remember what I said, Hikaru.”

“I know. You worry too much,” Hikaru rolled his eyes. Akira let out a snort and went off. The navigator hummed, turning to look at the two blondes, who were staring at him in confusion. He waved them off, getting off the desk and leaving himself.

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_YK:_ ** _Just an update, but Madarame has been making calls all day. He seems to be setting up some sort of press conference tomorrow, after the end of the exhibition._

**_RS:_ ** _cool_

**_RS:_ ** _on other news akira where tf are u_

**_AK:_ ** _im comin chill i need to pee_

**_RS:_ ** _hikaru????_

**_HA:_ ** _you will never get me to exercise fuck you_

**_RS:_ ** _cmon itll be fun with friends_

**_HA:_ ** _ah its so fun to get all sweaty and smell like rotting cheese_

**_AK:_ ** _lmao_

**_RS:_ ** _im comin to get u you lazy ass_

**_HA:_ ** _akira protect me_

**_AK:_ ** _lmao no_

**_HA:_ ** _ah betrayal_

**_HA:_ ** _is this because of the modelling thing coz I already apologized_

**_AK:_ ** _nah i just like to see you suffer_

**_HA:_ ** _friendship at its finest_

**_AT:_ ** _Jesus you guys are a mess_

**_AT:_ ** _also thanks for the update Yusuke_

**_AK:_ ** _were meeting up tomorrow at the diner yes_

**_AK:_ ** _we need to go over some stuff plus a possible celebration party_

**_HA:_ ** _ok captain_

**_HA:_ ** _wait ryuj-_

**_AK:_ ** _im here at our usual place_

**_RS:_ ** _cool im on the way_

**_AT:_ ** _Omg that’s hilarious_

**_AT:_ ** _I just looked outside to see Ryuji carrying Hikaru like a sack of potatoes down the hallway_

**_AT:_ ** _everyone’s just staring in awe and fear_

**_AT:_ ** _killer part being Hikaru seemingly not bothered at all_

**_HA:_ ** _i accepted my fate, ann_

**_HA:_ ** _remember me_

**_RS:_ ** _literally just a lap around the school but ok_

**_RS:_ ** _btw youre actually not as heavy as i thought_

**_HA:_ ** _thx???_

**_AK:_ ** _why dont u guys just talk_

**_RS:_ ** _oh yea_

**_HA:_ ** _whoops_

**_YK:_ ** _I am once again wondering where I went wrong in life._

**_HA:_ ** _love ya too bud_

_~~~_

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_RS:_ ** _so how you doin on this fine morning hikaru_

**_HA:_ ** _shut the fuck up_

**_AK:_ ** _how are you actually that out of shape_

**_HA:_ ** _Shut The Fuck Up_

**_AT:_ ** _I’m assuming Hikaru died_

**_HA:_ ** _ryuji and akira who_

**_HA:_ ** _the only friends I have are ann and yusuke_

**_RS:_ ** _this is so sad_

**_AK:_ ** _f_

**_RS:_ ** _f_

**_YK:_ ** _F._

**_HA:_ ** _Yusuke what the fuck_

**_YK:_ ** _I am paying respects, Hikaru._

**_RS:_ ** _holy shit yusuke’s memeing_

**_AK:_ ** _also hows Madarame?_

**_YK:_ ** _I haven’t seen him at all today. He has left early today, most likely to prepare for the press conference._

**_YK:_ ** _It will be at 8 o’ clock at night. Perhaps we shall get together and watch it._

**_RS:_ ** _ooh didn’t we say we’re gonna have a party at akira’s_

**_AT:_ ** _oh yeah did you ask_

**_AK:_ ** _…if we’re not that loud, the boss says its fine_

**_RS:_ ** _hell yeah!_

**_HA:_ ** _so meet at leblanc at 7:30?_

**_AK:_ ** _I do not believe I told you where I lived._

**_HA:_ ** _You would be correct in that assumption._

**_AK:_ ** _bitch_

**_HA:_ ** _ <3_

**_AT:_ ** _ooh, I know about that café_

**_AT:_ ** _I saw it in a magazine once_

**_RS:_ ** _you said before its at yongen right_

**_AK:_ ** _ye_

**_YK:_ ** _I will be there. However, I do have an issue._

**_AT:_ ** _?_

**_YK:_ ** _I need a place to stay for the night._

**_RS:_ ** _???_

**_YK:_ ** _The dorms have proven to be stifling and unfit for my work. I have decided that I should try to look for other alternatives, should the change of heart work, as I would have to move out from Madarame’s shack._

**_AK:_ ** _I think you can stay with me for a night?_

**_AK:_ ** _lemme confirm that_

**_YK:_ ** _That would be most appreciated._

**_AK:_ ** _also what we eatin kids_

**_AT:_ ** _how bout hotpot??_

**_AK:_ ** _im fine if everyones ok_

**_RS:_ ** _sure_

**_YK:_ ** _Fine by me._

**_HA:_ ** _there you go_

**_AK:_ ** _we have to go get ingredients tho_

**_AK:_ ** _theres a grocery store nearby that we can go to together later_

**_HA:_ ** _cool cool_

**_AT:_ ** _cant wait!_

_~~~_

“No, we are not going to put goddamn broccoli in the hot pot!”

“Trust me, man, it’s actually really good!” Ryuji pleaded, trying to pry Hikaru’s hands off of the vegetable. Their loud arguing caught the attention of the other customers in the grocery store, who were muttering softly between each other at the commotion caused by the two teens.

“What kind of uncultured villain are you?! Who puts fucking _broccoli_ in hot pot?” Hikaru yelled, snatching the vegetable out of the blond’s fingers. Said teen let out a huff, eyes pleading.

“Can both of you stop arguing? You guys are causing a scene!” Ann stage-whispered, glancing over her shoulder at the concerned employee behind the counter. “We’re supposed to be on a low profile, remember?”

“Ann, he wants goddamn broccoli!” Hikaru said back, glaring at Ryuji.

“I do agree with Hikaru. Broccoli in hot pot sounds atrocious,” Yusuke remarked, eyes not leaving the shelf beside the vegetables section. He picked up two packets, one containing pre-cooked rice and the other udon noodles. “Would all of you prefer porridge or udon after? I prefer porridge, but I am willing to compromise.”

“Eh, get both. If we can’t finish, we’ll save it for next time,” was the reply from Ryuji. Yusuke hummed in agreement, adding both packets into their cart.

“Hikaru, did we grab all the vegetables we need?” Ann asked, looking back at the quick list she made on her phone. They already had the meat, soup, some rice or noodles on the side, and seasonings. All they needed were the vegetables and they were good.

“Yes, we did. And no, Ryuji, not including the broccoli. Eat that shit on your own.” Ryuji deflated, letting out a pout. Hikaru responded by flicking his lips, making the blond sputter. “We can go now if we have everything. Akira should be already done setting up.”

“It is almost time for the conference. We should get back soon,” Yusuke noted.

“Do you guys think we have enough? All of us eat quite a lot, so is 2 packs of meat enough?” Ann crossed her arms, turning her head to look at her friend. “You eat the most meat, Ryuji, what do you think?”

“Should be fine. Plus, if we need any, the store’s like a 2-minute walk.” Ann nodded, pushing the cart towards the cash register. The cashier gave them a wary look, seeing as they did cause quite the commotion just now. Ann tried to play it off with a goofy smile.

“That will be 8320 yen, please.” Hikaru handed over the cash, waving off the others as they tried to pay him back. “It’s fine, let me treat you all, okay? It’s not that much anyway.”

“…Fine. But next time, we’ll pay, alright?”

Hikaru let out a laugh. “You don’t need to, but sure, Ann.” Each of the teens grabbed a bag and made their way back to the café.

“Welcome back. The conference is about to start,” Akira greeted as they walked into the store. Hikaru plopped onto the couch beside Ann, with Akira, Ryuji, and Yusuke on the other sides of the table. The pot was already set up, the ingredients unpacked. The party was already underway.

“Alright, as the leader, I have to officially give a speech.” Akira got up, grabbing his glass of soda, a cheeky grin on his face.

“So, in the past month, a lot of things happened. We almost got reported to the police twice, Ann almost had to be painted nude, Yusuke had his Awakening, et cetera. Fun stuff.” Ann grimaced at the mention of the nude painting. Ryuji let out a chortle, leaning back on his seat as Akira continued.

“To be perfectly honest, the Palace was absolute hell. Didn’t like it, lasers were really annoying, Hikaru’s brain almost got fried, I almost watched Ryuji and Ann die, though they _did_ die for half a second,” the two grimaced at that, sending another grateful smile towards Hikaru. Akira let out a breath at that, continuing.

“But a lot of good things came out of it. We got Yusuke, all of us got a lot stronger, we learned more about Hikaru’s abilities, and we got some valuable info from Madarame about someone else who has been in Palaces before, probably the one we spotted with Hikaru’s map, most likely being Akechi. That gives us an obvious advantage, should we ever have to fight, but here’s hoping we don’t. We did it, Thieves, even though it was a mess the entire time.”

“Cheers!” Ryuji yelled, interrupting Akira. The leader laughed, cheering with everyone as they raised their glass.

“Hey, the conference’s starting!” Immediately, everyone brought out their phones. Sure, on one of the Aozora domain channels was Madarame, on live broadcast. The man seemed almost serene, calm as he stood at the podium, taking in a shuddering breath as he began.

 _“I… have done things that were unbecoming of an artist.”_ Here it comes.

 _“Plagiarism, abuse of my students, even driving some of them to the point of suicide…”_ His sobs became louder and more apparent, tears beginning to run down his face. _“…The rumors were true. And as such, I would like to wholeheartedly apologize. I will turn myself in to the police and atone for my crimes.”_ Any last semblance of professionalism and dignity was gone as Madarame broke down on the stage, beginning to plead for the reporters to call the police.

“Hell yeah!” Ryuji exclaimed, pumping a fist in victory. They did it. The change of heart was successful, meaning that the Phantom Thieves have done it again.

“It truly is a relief to see Sensei- no, Madarame, confess his crimes. It puts me at ease, no longer having to deal with that.” Yusuke muttered, the smile on his face barely concealed. Ann and Hikaru exchanged a high five, while Akira snuggled Morgana for a quick moment, the cat yowling in protest. The mood was light and happy after the change of heart as the party began eating.

~~~

Morgana meowed happily, laying on the table. “Oh, that was good!”

“We didn’t even get to porridge…” Yusuke muttered, a dejected look on his face. Akira reached over to pet him on the back with a chuckle. “Next time, alright, Yusuke?”

“Man, I’m stuffed…” Ryuji groaned. Ann nodded as well, laying down on the sofa next to Hikaru. “I’m so tired after all that… do you mind if I take a quick nap?”

“Go ahead. I’ll wake you up when you have to leave,” Akira responded. The girl nodded, resting her head on an armrest and closing her eyes. She let out a quiet yawn, making the boy next to her let out a small one as well. Hikaru grabbed a sip of his coffee, bringing his attention back to the conversation.

“…Now that I think of it, I have not asked about your stories. I have told you mine, and I would like to hear yours, if you are willing to share.” Yusuke brought up as a way to get the conversation flowing.

“I mean, you all kinda know mine, but I don’t think I told Yusuke.” Ryuji started. “I was part of the track team at Shujin, enjoyed it a lot. Kamoshida came along, basically destroyed the track team and broke my leg, and called it ‘self-defense’. Just thinking about it makes me pissed…”

“It’s over, Ryuji. Kamoshida’s behind bars,” Hikaru mentioned quietly.

“Yeah, but what really pissed me off was how my mom was treated. My dad was never in the picture; was always just me and my mom. When the school called her over after the fight, they just yelled at her. I felt so bad about it, even now. She just took it all and didn’t say anything. On the way home, she apologized to me for being a single mom and all that, and I just got so angry at Kamoshida.” Ryuji took a sip of his soda, everyone patiently waiting.

“But no one comes close to what Akira went through in terms of being labeled, though.” Akira let out a silent huff.

“You probably know that I have a criminal record, right Yusuke?” A small nod. “I’ll start there, I guess. It started when I was on my way home in my hometown, after a late day of baseball practice. I was on the team, and it was really fun. On the way home, I heard a woman screaming, so I tried to interject. There was a drunk dude trying to assault a lady, and I couldn’t just stand there and watch. Shoved the dude a bit too hard and he fell, causing him to bleed. He then said he’ll sue, and a few months later, here I am.”

Ryuji’s face turned sour at the story, while Hikaru let out a small sigh. He knew the story, of course, and it just annoyed him that the man’s name was never written down. Even for the Aozora, it seemed that whoever Akira pissed off was powerful.

“That is awful. What an atrocious man,” Yusuke remarked, taking a sip of his tea. “He sounds like a suitable target for a change of heart, doesn’t he?”

“We would need a name should we choose to proceed,” Hikaru said, “a name that somehow, I don’t have. That should already be a warning to be careful.”

“Well, we should keep that man in mind, should we ever need a target. But for now, just relax, I guess. We changed Madarame’s heart, and I don’t know how much better it gets.” Akira raised his glass, all the other boys doing the same.

“And how about you, Hikaru? Why did you want to become a Phantom Thief?” Hikaru froze at Yusuke’s question.

“You don’t have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable, you know. We understand,” Akira reassured. Ryuji nodded as well, the concerned look on his face not going away.

“…No, it’s fine. You guys shared yours, and it wouldn’t be fair for me to not share mine. It’s just a bit hard to talk about.” And so Hikaru talked. Talked about the death of his mother, and how much that impacted him as a child. He wasn’t ready to go too far into the details, and it seemed the others realized that. They just nodded in silence, accepting what he told them.

“I guess I became a Thief because I wanted a purpose. I had a life laid in front of me, but I want to explore other routes, you know? Not just what was there. I wanted to know what the world was about, and what choices I have. It’s a bit selfish compared to all of yours. There’s no righteous reason, nor am I doing it for someone else, like all of you,” Hikaru looked at his glass of soda, a bashful smile on his face.

“Not at all, Hikaru. You’re doing this by helping others in need, and I would say that’s quite selfless of you.” Morgana meowed, gently leaping onto the heir’s lap. He let Hikaru stroke him softly, letting out a soft purr.

“How about you, Morgana?” The cat shook Hikaru’s hand off.

“I don’t remember anything about my past. All I know that all of this has some sort of relation to the depths of Mementos. That’s why I need to discover what’s at the core.”

“…Isn’t the thought scary, though?” The scout turned his head towards the teen he was sitting on. “You’re going in to find your memories, but will you like what you find? What if you aren’t human, as you thought?”

“…I have to be human.” The gleam in Morgana’s eyes scared Hikaru. It reminded him of his past self, clinging on to any last hope of friendship and a normal life. It was the look of denial, of desperation.

“…If you say so.” He couldn’t keep challenging the cat, or who knows what would happen. He has his own issues, and that was his business. However, Hikaru wanted to help. He was a friend and a teammate, after all.

“But still, all of us went through some tough shit, huh?” Ryuji said.

“Because of that, we’re all here now, working to change the world, one person at a time. I would say that it is the one silver lining in all of that mess,” Akira gave a soft smile, the others nodding.

“Yeah! We’ll change the world, that’s what our powers’re for!” Ryuji exclaimed, jumping up in his seat.

“What are all of you getting hyped for?” Ann roused from her sleep.

“Oh, sorry, did we wake you up?” Ryuji sat back down.

“Nah, I was awake for a while, just listening to all of you. And it occurred to me that I technically only gotten close to all of you within the past year, but I feel like I’ve known you all for my life. Maybe it’s because of our similar stories. Even Morgana…” Ann muttered quietly.

“Regardless, we’re still here, as Phantom Thieves. I would say let’s just roll with this, as long as we can. We’re the only ones who can change hearts,” Akira said.

“Well, certainly no objections here.”

“Plus, we need to get stronger if we want to help Morgana get his memories back, and this will definitely help.” The cat sent a look of appreciation to the heir, the boy grinning in return.

“Well, that’s great and all, but it’s getting late. I think I’ll head home for the night,” Ann yawned, getting up and stretching. “Oh, and Yusuke, the owner said you are free to stay when I asked.”

“Delightful. However, I do need to go take a shower. Is there anywhere I can do so?” Yusuke laid his cup onto the table.

“There’s a bathhouse around the corner, we can all go together,” Morgana suggested, to which Ryuji agreed.

“I’ll have to sit this one out. I live quite far away, so I have to get going. Next time, maybe?” Hikaru got up, grabbing his bag.

“Aww, damn. But yeah, next time for sure!” Ryuji exclaimed as Hikaru rolled his eyes, following Ann down the stairs and towards the station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do people actually read end notes? I know I didn't for a while.


	17. Slip of the Tongue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chill chapter, Akechi says the thing.

This was a terrible idea.

It was on one of their off days from school that Hikaru decided to test something out. He couldn’t help but think about Morgana and his past, and that led to him going into Mementos. On his own. Now that he was here, he realized that he probably should have asked at least one person to come with him, even if this was based purely on his own curiosity.

Wait, he had telepathy.

 _“Hey, Ryuji, are you busy?”_ Hikaru chuckled as he watched the blond startle in the middle of eating lunch.

_Warn a dude, why don’t you? What’s up?_

_“I’m doing something, and I need some help. You free?”_ Ryuji raised an eyebrow but kept his face straight.

_Yeah. What do you need?_

_“Come to Mementos. I’ll meet you at the entrance.”_ That drew out a reaction. The blond choked on his ramen, catching the attention of nearby customers. He quickly composed himself, taking a deep breath.

_Mementos? Shouldn’t we ask the others to come along?_

_“It’s just my personal curiosity, and there’s no need to gather the group for something like that. We won’t go in far, I just need someone to come along in case of an emergency.”_

_Then wouldn’t Akira be better?_

_“He's busy. Just come over.”_

_Fine... Gimme a sec._

_~~~_

“Again, what’s the point of this?”

“I just need to test something.” The two boys were in the first area of Mementos, the Path of Qimranut. They were on the train tracks, with Sky resting his hands on the ground. The navigator was able to form a map for any floor that they were on, but he was curious about the shifting structure of Mementos. Mona had chalked it up to the shifting cognition of the masses, but that seemed off. Why would the public’s cognition of the subway system, which is what Mementos was based on, change? It was still a way of transportation.

And so here he was. He was trying to get an overall map of the place, much like how he did with a Palace. After all, Mementos was a Palace. From what he could sense, there were plenty of areas, around sixty or so. But the strange thing was that even if he could sense the presence of these areas, Merlin wasn’t able to give him a proper map until they were on that floor.

“What makes Mementos different from any other Palace?” Sky muttered.

“Isn’t it the Palace of the public or something?” Skull scratched the back of his head, lead pipe resting on his shoulder.

“Yeah, but it’s still a Palace, right? And if it’s shared between so many people, then the distortion should be lesser compared to if it was one person…” Sky was just throwing ideas out, seeing which one sounded right.

“I dunno, man. This ain’t my kinda thing. But the place is still a subway system, right? Doesn’t that mean it isn’t as distorted as other places?” Sky turned towards Skull, taking a seat on the rail.

“I guess… But that doesn’t explain why Mementos’ layout changes every time we come. The public’s cognition of the subway shouldn’t change.” Sky glanced down the rails, leading to god knows where.

All of this has something to do with Mona, he felt. Mona said the depths of Mementos was where they would find out the truth about his past. But Sky had an inkling about that. Just from a scan, he could tell that Mona himself was magical, but not in the way the rest of them are. Taking Joker as an example, he was gifted with the power of the Trickster. That itself gives him a small amount of magic, but Mona was overwhelmingly magical.

Could it be a curse, that trapped him in this form as he said? Or could he have been born from that magic itself? It was hard to tell, but that was why he didn’t want Mona to get his hopes up. After all, who knows what would happen if Mona was something that isn’t of this world?

“Um, Sky?”

The navigator was snapped out of his thoughts by the rattling of chains. Next to him, Skull was on edge. He was watching what seemed to be a Shadow coming towards them slowly, but clearly, something was different.

Sky didn’t even need to look to feel the immense pressure on his chest as he gazed at the hooded Shadow. The silver of its arms gleamed in the dark light of Mementos, its one red eye almost disarming. It was levitating off the ground, but the trail of chains behind it were clashing against each other and created the rattling he had heard. Everything about it was just screaming death. It seemed that Skull noticed as well, if his call for them to run wasn’t a hallucination.

The two of them turned their backs and ran as quickly as they could back to the platform leading back to the entrance.

“What… the fuck was that?!” Skull puffed out between heavy breaths. Looking back at the tracks, the huge Shadow seemed to be missing, as was the rattling of chains that summoned it. It was almost as if it never existed. Sky groaned, falling onto his butt on the concrete.

“Alright. I’m guessing staying for this long was what caused it to appear?” Merlin confirmed it. The Shadow’s presence seemed to vanish when they arrived at the platform, but one foot out onto the tracks and it would be back to hunt them.

“I think that’s enough investigating for today.” Sky wrapped up, heading up the stairs, Skull following. “Wanna go somewhere?”

“Yeah, man!”

~~~

“God, this is a drag…” Ryuji groaned out.

The four Shujin students were in an Aozora television station as a part of the mandatory social studies trip for second years. Hikaru was with the teachers and guide, acting as a liaison between the school and staff. Ann, Ryuji, and Akira, meanwhile, were stuck listening to another guide about basic television broadcasting. And by basic, it was _basic_.

“I thought it would be more fun or something,” Ann muttered, dejected. Akira, on the other hand, was barely staying awake, lightly swaying. He startled with a smack from Ryuji, a weird noise coming out of him.

“Can we just run? No one will notice, right?” Ryuji suggested, looking around. Sure enough, no one seemed to be paying attention to them.

“You better not be planning to skip,” a bored voice interrupted. They turned to see Kawakami behind them, Hikaru beside her. “I know it’s boring, but just deal with it for now. We’re trying to see if there are any live shows that we can be an audience for, alright?”

“I think there should be one, but I would have to double-check with the producer if we can sit in on it. It should be fine,” Hikaru said, immediately attracting Ann’s attention.

“Ooh, will we get to meet some kind of celebrity?” Ann whisper yelled, shaking with excitement. “I always wanted to meet a movie star!”

“Seriously doubt that, probably some news interview or something. I’ll try to find a live recording that we can watch, but I doubt there’s any that’s really important. But hey, that’s better than standing here and hearing some adult rambling about basic television broadcasting, right?” Nods all around.

“Alright, Aozora, come with me, we need to go ask around. Everyone’s getting restless at this point,” Kawakami waved, the student following. They went over to the current producer, who perked up at seeing Hikaru. “Ah, Aozora-san, how can I help you?”

“This is Kawakami-sensei, the chaperone for the Shujin students. I just wanted to ask if you know what program’s after this? The school has been slightly restless, and I think it would be best to try to get them to watch a live broadcast or at least a recording session.” Hikaru kept a smile on his face, Kawakami right beside him.

“There’s nothing much happening today, but there is an interview for Good Morning Japan with Goro Akechi tomorrow?” Hikaru felt himself shudder.

“That sounds wonderful! May we act as a live audience for tomorrow?” Kawakami asked politely, hands clasped in front of her.

“It should be fine, I don’t think the crew could get one. I think he’ll be discussing the recent Phantom Thieves thing, so it should be interesting to the students.” Someone yelled for the producer at that point, the man letting out a huff. “Sorry about that, but I need to go. Excuse me, Kawakami-san, Aozora-san.” The man left with a bow, heading over to the crew, who were discussing technical issues.

“Well, there you have it. I think we can go home from here, and meet tomorrow again. Is that fine, Kawakami-sensei?” The teacher nodded. “I have to inform the students, so enjoy your day, alright?”

Hikaru sighed, finally getting a break from guiding the teachers through the studio. It was tiring, and all he wanted right now was to go relax with his friends. A quick mental glance was all it took to find his friends in the hallway just outside the waiting rooms. He quickly went over.

“…Pancake looking place!” The first thing he heard was Morgana’s voice, cheering for pancakes. A stifled laugh came out as he rounded the corner. “I’m assuming you all want to go to Dome Town?”

“Yeah, we’re thinking about going after the show. We can just leave from here, after all,” Ann briefed him. Hikaru nodded, not seeing a reason to object.

“Oh, excuse me, but from your uniforms, are you students from Shujin Academy?” A voice interrupted their conversation. They turned to face the Detective Prince in all of his glory. Hikaru’s eyes slightly narrowed, Akira also doing the same.

“Who’re you?” Ryuji asked, seemingly unbothered. Oh, right, he hasn’t actually met him, plus Ryuji isn’t the kind to search up news about Akechi.

“Ah, where are my manners? My name is Goro Akechi. Aozora-san, it’s nice to see you again.” He gave them a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Same here. How are you, detective?” Akechi wasn’t the only one who could fake emotions. Hikaru was raised as the heir to one of the largest companies in all of Japan; facial expressions were just another day on the job.

“Good, thank you. I just wanted to greet all of you, as I was just informed that we will be filming together. It’s nice to meet you all,” a nod to everyone. Ann and Ryuji looked at each other, a confused expression on their face, while Hikaru and Akira kept their eyes forward.

“Filming?” Ann muttered under her breath.

“Were you not informed? We’ll be recording together tomorrow, for Good Morning Japan. It will be a live interview about the Phantom Thieves, I believe.” That caught their attention. However, a ring from Akechi’s phone pulled his attention away.

“Forgive me, but I must go now. I have to attend a briefing for tomorrow’s interview now,” he said after letting out a breath, a small frown appearing. It was quickly replaced with his smile again. “I assume you all are going to have cake now? I personally am starving, since I hadn’t had the chance to have lunch.”

“Cake?” Akira raised an eyebrow. “We didn’t say anything about cake.”

“Oh, was I mistaken? I thought I heard something about delicious pancakes… No matter. Well, I will see you all at the recording tomorrow. Farewell.” With that, the detective turned away, heading towards the waiting rooms.

“That was… something. I’m assuming he’s the Akechi you told us about,” Hikaru nodded at Morgana’s question. “The one and only.”

“Well, regardless, let’s go to Dome Town! I’m hungry!” Ann cheered, leading the way with Ryuji enthusiastically beside her. Hikaru and Akira lingered at the back, eyes checking behind them.

“…You caught that, didn’t you, Hikaru?” Akira whispered under his breath, Hikaru replying with a curt nod. “Find what you can, just be careful.”

“Understood, Joker.”

It seems that Akechi slipped up.

~~~

“Hello, everyone, and welcome to Good Morning Japan! Today, we once again have Goro Akechi, the second coming of the Detective Prince with us! Please, a round of applause!”

Soft applause rang out in the studio, courtesy of the Shujin second years gathered. Already, you could hear the girls begin to mutter and giggle.

“Thank you for your kindness. I’m certainly glad to be back.” A smile and the whispers became louder. Ryuji rolled his eyes, letting out a soft groan.

“Moving right on. I was told that you have a certain case that you have in mind. Do you mind sharing, detective?” the MC asked, a polite smile on her face. Beside her, the male MC nodded as well, interest piqued. “Do tell us, as much as you are allowed to disclose, of course.”

“Ah, that would be the scandal surrounding the famous artist Madarame. I’m assuming all of you have heard about it, yes?”

“And there it is! It seems that you have heard about these Phantom Thieves as well! If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your opinion on these justice-oriented Thieves?”

“Well, if they do act on the side of justice, I would be wishing they exist as well, no?” The MCs laughed politely.

“But you don’t deny their existence and their supposed ‘change of heart’?”

“I am still a child at heart, after all. I still believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, but will have to press charges should they exist.” Laughter erupted from the audience at the detective’s comment. Ryuji, however, seems unamused, if the huff he let out was indicative of his feelings.

“But hypothetically should they exist…” The Thieves leaned a bit further in their seats. “…I believe they should be tried in a court of law.”

Whispers broke out at that, while the MCs tried to recollect themselves.

“That’s quite the statement, Akechi-san. Are they committing crimes? Some say they help their victims admit their wrongdoings and start over. Is that a punishable offense?” Akechi took a deep breath, face morphing into something akin to anger.

“What Madarame did was an unforgivable crime. But who are the Phantom Thieves to judge him themselves? That is far from justice.” He quickly reverted back to his joking self immediately after. “…Of course, this is all assuming they are real. If they aren’t, then I must look quite silly.”

“And there you have it! I must say, you are very charismatic, Akechi-san. I can see why you are widely respected. Now, why don’t we ask some students your age about the Phantom Thieves? If you believe in the Phantom Thieves, please press the button provided to you at the start of the program now.”

The counter behind the hosts began to increase, moving up to around the quarter mark. “So around 25 to 30 percent. Your thoughts, Akechi-san?”

“I must say, that is higher than I anticipated. May I get some detailed opinions?” Akechi asked, looking over the crowd of students. The female MC got up, slowly wandering towards the students. “…How about you, mister? What are your thoughts on Phantom Thieves, if they are real?” Akira startled for a moment, realizing that she was in fact, asking him.

“…Well, they certainly do more than the cops,” he replied sarcastically, drawing out a small amount of laughs. Akechi let out a snort, and quickly composed himself. “I should be offended by that, no?”

“Take it as you will, detective.”

“Well, this certainly goes against your opinion from before, Akechi-san. Your thoughts?” The male host asked.

“Certainly. It is intriguing to hear such a strong opinion. In that case, I would like to ask a question, if you don’t mind.” The host gestured a ‘go-ahead’, and the female MC passed the mic back to Akira.

“Let’s say that for example, if someone close to you, like your friend next to you, had a ‘change of heart’ as they call it, would you believe it’s done by the Phantom Thieves?” Akechi crossed his legs, resting a hand on his knee. Akira gained a gleam in his eyes, his mouth curling into a smirk.

“You tell me, detective. What would you think?”

“Rebutting the question to me, huh? Fair enough.” He turned back to the hosts. “Regardless, what is more important here is the MO. How does one go about changing a heart? If given in the wrong hands, confessions aren’t the only thing they can get. False confessions, manipulation… so many things could therefore be classified under a ‘change of heart’, no?”

“You are absolutely right, I didn’t think of that,” the host commented, a look of curiosity on his face.

“Oh, don’t misunderstand, this is all just hypothetical,” Akechi said, bringing the light atmosphere back. “I still know nothing of their methods, and there is a lack of hard evidence.”

“To sum it up, I believe the Phantom Thieves will be nothing but a threat to our lives; and I want to do what’s best for the people. I’m already working with the police to find possible leads, and I think that this will all blow over soon.”

“Well, thank you very much for your opinion, Akechi-san. Once again, that is Goro Akechi, the famous high school detective. A round of applause for our guest, please!” Akechi got up and bowed at the camera, then left the set towards the waiting rooms. With that, the recording was over.

~~~

“…He had a point there, didn’t he? That what we’re doing isn’t as simple as it is?” Ann whispered, eyes looking back at the set, where the staff have begun tearing it down to set up for the next program.

“Nothing is always black and white, Ann,” Hikaru said, eyes wandering.

“I still don’t like how he made us sound like the bad ones. We’re the good guys here!” Ryuji grumbled under his breath.

“He’s just doing his job, Ryuji. In the eyes of the law, we are criminals. We should’ve expected this, to say the least.” Akira crossed his arms, resting his weight on a foot.

“Just let him say whatever he wants. We are the ones that decide our justice,” Morgana remarked from Akira’s shoulder.

“I needa go take a leak real quick, alright? Gimme a sec.” With a nod from Akira, Ryuji went off towards the bathrooms.

“…I think I’m gonna head home first. I need to clear my head for a while. I’ll see you all tomorrow?” Hikaru waved a goodbye, leaving him and Akira alone. But not for long, it seems.

“Oh, it’s you… I’m glad I found you. I wanted to thank you in person.” Akechi approached the two Thieves.

“I wanted to thank you for your opinion on our discussion. It was really enlightening for me, seeing as so little people actually speak their minds around me.” Akechi said to Akira.

“I wonder why that is.” Akira said, the sarcasm in his voice clear. “No offense, detective, but you have a way with words that make what you’re saying seem a lot less interesting than it is.”

Akechi laughed at that, the same smile as before there once again. “It really is refreshing to hear a new opinion. I feel like our discussions would be very fruitful. Do you mind having more discussions with me again?”

“Oh god, that sounded like a confession. Should I leave you two alone?” Hikaru said, a teasing smirk on his face.

“Please, thank you,” Akira replied, returning Hikaru’s smirk. The heir rolled his eyes but walked off, with a laugh from Akechi. Not that he wasn’t listening, of course.

“If the opportunity arises, I would love to. You don’t get celebrities coming up to you asking to be grilled that often.” Akira replied.

“You truly are an interesting individual. I don’t think I caught your name…”

“Kurusu. Akira Kurusu.”

“Well then, Kurusu. Perhaps we can meet up on some other day.” With that, Akira was left alone. Hikaru returned to his friend’s side, a questioning look on his face. “What was that about?”

“You tell me. You’re the mind reader.”

~~~

“No.”

“Please?”

Hikaru sighed. How did he manage to get in these situations? If you had asked him at the start of the year if he would be possibly recruited by a friend into getting a maid two months later, he would’ve ran off and called the police. But here he was, with Ryuji and Mishima eager to get someone to join their operation. Akira looked slightly amused if anything.

“As much as I would like to, which isn’t much at all, I have something to do tonight. So, by all means, knock yourselves out.” That was a lie. He had nothing to do tonight except lie down and maybe play some games. He already finished his homework in class, so he really had nothing to do.

“Yeah? And what would that be?” Hikaru turned his glare to Akira, who was trying not to laugh.

“Why does it matter to you?”

“Just come along, Hikaru. It’s just for fun, and plus, if we get into trouble, Ryuji’s taking responsibility.” Said blond raised an eyebrow, but otherwise nodded in agreement.

Hikaru groaned. “I’m probably going to regret this…” he started, Ryuji’s eyes lighting up. “…but fine.”

“For real?! Hell yeah!”

A few hours later, and Hikaru absolutely stood by his statement. Here he was, sitting in the middle of an empty apartment with Ryuji and Mishima freaking the hell out, and Akira perfectly calm beside him. The one good side of this entire situation is that Morgana was in his lap, and Hikaru would honestly consider that a win. The cat was letting out soft purrs as Hikaru ran his hand through his fur, and it might be the cutest thing he’s seen in a while.

That still doesn’t excuse whatever’s happening around him though. Everything was interrupted by the doorbell.

“Hello, Master~! I’m Becky, from the housekeeping service! May I come in?” A voice said from the hallway. Looks of panic grew onto Ryuji’s and Mishima’s faces, both of them immediately looking around for an escape route.

“She’s here early! Wait, I’m not ready! I can’t do this! I’m sorry, but I’ll leave it to you all!” Mishima whisper yelled, climbing out of the window onto the fire escape.

At seeing that, Ryuji also did the same, sending an apologetic grin towards the two dark-haired teens. “I’ll leave it to you two, alright? Remember, don’t let her know you’re high school students!” Hikaru groaned, rolling his eyes. He really should have seen this coming. Plus, if he knew that voice, it didn’t matter if she knew they were high school students.

“Oh, the door is unlocked. Excuse me, may I enter?” The maid said, the door opening just as Ryuji jumped out of the window. She entered with a curtsy, not noticing Hikaru at the corner, but instead approaching Akira in the center of the room. The heir covered Morgana’s mouth gently, which made the cat look up at him. With his other hand, he put a finger to his lips, now interested in seeing where this goes.

“There you are! Welcome home, Master~! I am Becky, your maid for tonight! What would you like for me to do today?” She said in a cutesy voice that almost made Hikaru snort. Akira, meanwhile, was turned away from the maid, so she couldn’t see his face.

“Hello…” Akira said, shuffling his feet awkwardly. The atmosphere was tense as hell, and Hikaru still had no idea how she did not notice him sitting in the corner, not concealed in the slightest. But hey, he’ll drag this on for as long as possible.

“Oh, where are my manners? I should introduce our services! The basic package includes cleaning, cooking, laundry, et cetera. However, there are other special ‘services’ that we can provide~.” Akira froze at that, body going stiff. Hikaru stifled a laugh at seeing how awkward Akira felt.

Oh…Master, you seem quite young. Are you perhaps…in high school?” The maid approached Akira, leaning closer to him. Akira could only stammer out a soft “y-yes”, head lowering slightly.

“…Then those ‘services’ will have to wait, Master. If that is all, I will be leaving now.” With a bow, she was about to turn when a voice by the window cried out. “Wait, what?! No!”

“I-is someone there?!” the maid yelled, going over to open the window.

“Shit, run, Mishima!” Ryuji’s voice was loud, as was Mishima’s yell of panic. Their footsteps were rushed, as they ran out of the

“…Mishima? Sakamoto-kun? And you’re Kurusu?” The maid turned around, looking at Akira in the face. She then finally noticed Hikaru in the corner, who has decided to stroke Morgana behind the ears, not paying attention to the situation whatsoever. “Aozora?!”

“Hi there, Sensei. How’s your evening?” Hikaru said, looking up from Morgana. The maid, or, well, Kawakami, let out a deep sigh after a moment of shock, face melting back to her tired look.

“…Great. I’m so done. Of all the people who could have called me, it had to be my students…” Her eyes turned accusatory, a finger raising. “Who told you? It was Ms. Chouno, wasn’t it? That damned harpy… After Kamoshida’s incident, she’s just been looking into all the teachers. Are you guys going to tell her?” Kawakami questioned.

“That’s up to you,” Akira replied coolly.

“I don’t know about you, Sensei, but I already have what could be amounted to blackmail on almost everyone, so there’s really no reason for me to say anything,” Hikaru remarked.

“It’ll be big trouble if you guys tell on me. But hey, I don’t really have a choice here. If you want to side with a teacher, at least side with me. I’m your homeroom teacher, after all.” She rested a hand on her hip. “Just promise not to tell anyone about this.”

“I mean, I don’t think we’re allowed to call maid services anyway, so…” Hikaru flipped Morgana over, scratching his belly. The cat let out a yowl, a paw reaching over to paw at the heir’s hand.

“I’ll promise to keep this a secret, so why don’t we forget this ever happened? I know that you aren’t the kind to do this, Aozora, so it was probably Sakamoto who scrapped this entire thing together. I’ll also say that you all canceled, so you won’t have to pay, alright?” With a nod from both teens, she let out a sigh, immediately composing herself after that. “On that note, I’m leaving! Remember, don’t say anything about this in school!”

And off she went, closing the door behind her. Hikaru sighed, getting up and plopping Morgana into Akira’s bag. “Well, that certainly was eventful. On that note, I’m heading home for the night. I’ll text you later or something?”

“Sure. Also, remember to grill Ryuji for me.”

“Gotcha.”

~~~

**_PM: HA - > RS_ **

**_HA:_ ** _yo what the fuck_

**_RS:_ ** _look im sorry_

**_HA:_ ** _where did the two of you run off to anyway_

**_RS:_ ** _big bang burger lmao_

**_HA:_ ** _what the fuck_

**_RS:_ ** _look we panicked_

**_RS:_ ** _but what happened after we left_

**_HA:_ ** _later_

**_HA:_ ** _did you at least buy me fries_

**_RS:_ ** _ye_

**_HA:_ ** _god bless_

**_HA:_ ** _im comin over_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> |(^_^)


	18. The Mafia Boss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we enter the next arc!

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_HA:_ ** _Niijima-senpai asked me to meet her after school_

**_HA:_ ** _I have a bad feeling so im just telling you all in case something happens_

**_AK:_ ** _Kawakami told me the same thing_

**_HA:_ ** _then something’s definitely up_

**_YK:_ ** _Who is this Niijima-senpai?_

**_AK:_ ** _She’s the student council president in Shujin who’s been suspicious about us_

**_AT:_ ** _Did she say anything about what she wants to talk about_

**_HA:_ ** _no but she just came up to me and told me to meet her at the council room after school_

**_AT:_ ** _well the bell is about to ring_

**_AT:_ ** _now im nervous_

**_HA:_ ** _we’ll find out soon enough_

**_AT:_ ** _we’re still meeting up at Shibuya right_

**_AK:_ ** _yea_

**_YK:_ ** _Understood._

~~~

“Ah, you both are early.” Makoto was seated at the table, a laptop and her phone on it.

“You wanted to see us?” Hikaru took a seat, already letting his mind scan Makoto’s thoughts.

_“Why did Hikaru have to be a Phantom Thief? He was such a good kid…”_

It seems that they were busted.

“I’ll get right to the point. Mr. Kamoshida and Madarame. Will you tell me what actually happened behind these incidents caused by the Phantom Thieves?” She kept her eyes on Akira, but her question was left open.

_“She knows.”_

_Well, then there’s really nothing we can do. Does she have evidence?_

_“No idea. I’ll keep an ear out.”_

“What do you mean?” Akira asked, feigning ignorance. Makoto clearly didn’t buy it, her expression showing exasperation more than anything. “…Fair enough. I suppose you won’t just admit it. Listen to this.” She pulled out her phone, playing a recording she made.

 ** _“If someone else could’ve helped them, we wouldn’t be Phantom Thieves to begin with!”_** For not the first time in his life, Hikaru wondered how one person could be this clueless. He could feel Akira freeze next to him, as well as Morgana startle in Akira’s bag. Makoto leaned forward on the table, eyes narrowing. “What could this mean?”

“We screwed up…” Morgana whispered from the bag.

“Was it blackmail? Hypnosis? How do your ‘changes of heart’ work? Mind telling?” Makoto pelted question after question on the two boys, who remained silent.

“…Not sure what you mean.” Akira said after a moment.

“And you?” She turned towards Hikaru, who let out a silent breath.

“Not sure what to tell you here, senpai.”

“Fair enough. You would say that this doesn’t prove anything, and you’re right. I have no way to prove your methods. However, that doesn’t mean I can't give this to the police.” Makoto’s eyes were sharp, with no inch of hesitation or remorse. “I wonder what they will do if a student under probation is placed under surveillance…”

“Niijima-senpai. What are you insinuating here?” Hikaru’s eyes turned cold.

Makoto ignored Hikaru’s warning tone, eyes still locked with Akira’s. “I believe that all of you are acting as the Phantom Thieves. If you tell me the truth, then I’ll keep this between us here.”

Akira’s phone cut through the tense atmosphere. Akira pulled out his phone, looking at Makoto. With a wave, Akira answered with a soft “hello?”

_“Hey, where you at? Are you with Hikaru? Hurry up, we’re meeting at the usual Phantom Thieves spot!”_

“As loud as always, but good timing. Won’t you take me to everyone else?”

Akira turned to look at Hikaru, who sighed in return. There was nothing they could do. He got up, turning towards Makoto. “You have no reason not to tell anyone right now. How do we know you’ll keep your word?”

“I have… a task for you all. Something I would like you all to do. Is that fine?”

“…Come on.”

The train ride to Shibuya was awkward, to say the least. Even the people around them could feel the tension between the council president and the two Thieves. A mental conversation started between Hikaru and Akira, both of them looking for a way to possibly get out of this, but it was almost impossible. She had the upper hand. No words were exchanged, however, just Makoto following Hikaru and Akira as they made their way to the Teikyu Building Accessway. Yusuke was the first to notice them approach, eyes immediately distrustful at seeing Makoto with them.

_“We fucked up. Everyone keep your mouth shut and follow Akira’s lead.”_

Small glances, small nods. Everyone knew Hikaru wasn’t joking with how dark his face was. The navigator acted as a pseudo leader in many situations, and this was one of them. It was a role that he sort of fell into, but no one complained.

Akira stopped in front of the three students waiting. “This is what you wanted, Niijima-san. Go ahead.”

“Wonderful. I assume you are Kitagawa-kun, second year at Kosei High and former student of Madarame?” She leveled a look at Yusuke.

“That would be me. And you are?”

“Makoto Niijima, third year at Shujin and student council president. Nice to meet you. Now, I would like to ask all of you about this.” She pulled out her phone, playing the audio clip that she had shown Hikaru and Akira.

“That’s…” Ryuji stammered out, immediately deflating. He had no argument.

“Both Madarame and Kamoshida were affected by similar methods, and meanwhile those affected were just coincidentally friends. How could anyone not be suspicious?”

“So? Did you come here just to say you’re reporting us?” Yusuke crossed his arms.

Ann rolled her eyes, eyebrows knitting. “I bet someone told you to find us. The school needs to maintain its reputation after all, but sexual harassment and abuse are apparently par for the course. What a joke. You’re just being used like a toy,” she scoffed, a scowl on her face.

Hikaru turned his glare towards Ann, the warning in his eyes clear. The girl immediately faltered, calming down. Antagonizing Makoto wasn’t going to make their lives any easier.

“…I know…” Makoto’s voice was soft, almost silent.

“And that’s why I would like to verify your justice.” Makoto seemed determined, as if she had to prove something.

“How so?” Hikaru spoke up.

“I would like you to change someone’s heart for me.”

Hikaru couldn’t say he didn’t see this coming. The power of changing hearts was a strong one, and who wouldn’t want to see a change of heart? The Phan-Site requests proved that, even all the trivial ones.

“Who?” Yusuke asked.

“Not a denial, it seems...I’ll inform you all tomorrow, alright? We can meet at the roof, after school.” Makoto left after that, leaving the Thieves by themselves again.

“…We need to discuss. Let’s go to the diner, alright?”

~~~

“…You are playing with fire. I don’t think you realize how bad this could have turned out. Anything to say, Ryuji?” Yusuke raised an eyebrow, deathly calm.

“Hey, why’re you singling me out?! Ann was caught, too!” Ryuji yelled back.

“I’m sorry…” Ann bowed her head.

“That’s enough. Arguing about whose fault it is won’t change the results.” Everyone could tell the heir was angry. Hikaru wasn’t one to get pissed off easily, even through all of their Phantom Thief endeavors so far.

“…My bad. I messed up.” Ryuji bowed his head. “What do we do now?”

“We really don’t have much of a choice here. I guess we have to listen to her request,” Akira said, taking a sip of coffee. “She doesn’t seem like the type to change some random person’s heart. Whoever it is must be bad to some degree.”

Hikaru ran a hand through his hair, letting out a deep breath. “Let’s just…worry about it tomorrow, alright? I’m sorry, just extremely nervous about all of this.”

“Nah, it ain’t your fault. I was the one who got caught…”

“We’ll meet up tomorrow after we talk to Niijima-san on the roof, alright? For now, just don’t blame yourself and move on. What happened has happened, but this isn’t the end yet. We still can recover from this.” Morgana jumped onto the table, nodding at Akira’s words.

“He’s right. We made a mistake, but not critical enough to end the Phantom Thieves. We’ll bounce back from this, alright?”

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_AK:_ ** _question if you add water to ketchup is it a soup_

**_HA:_ ** _i am absolutely disgusted_

**_RS:_ ** _i think so?_

**_RS:_ ** _ill be back gotta do smth real quick_

**_AK:_ ** _because a soup is just like a bunch of things added into water right_

**_AK:_ ** _so if u added ketchup is it soup_

**_HA:_ ** _why dont u try it_

**_AK:_ ** _i never said anything about it being good soup_

**_AT:_ ** _what did i come online for_

**_AK:_ ** _answer the question Ann_

**_AT:_ ** _uhh…yes?_

**_AT:_ ** _sounds nasty though_

**_AK:_ ** _Hikaru_

**_HA:_ ** _i refuse_

**_AK:_ ** _is yusuke on?_

**_YK:_ ** _Is something the matter?_

**_AK:_ ** _read up_

**_YK:_ ** _It doesn’t matter to me, as long as it is edible. I don’t care for the taste or method as long as it can satisfy my hunger._

**_HA:_ ** _yikes_

**_HA:_ ** _you okay my dude_

**_YK:_ ** _Perfectly fine. Why do you ask?_

**_AK:_ ** _can someone google this_

**_AT:_ ** _okay I just imagined the taste and its nasty_

**_RS:_ ** _im back are yall still talking about tomato soup_

**_AK:_ ** _yes_

**_RS:_ ** _why don’t we try making it_

**_RS:_ ** _ill come over to leblanc tmr_

**_AK:_ ** _this is going to be so nasty but science_

Akira stifled a chortle. Morgana laid beside him, leaning over to read the text messages.

“Well, at least it worked,” the cat said, Akira nodding along. It was a random question to get everyone’s mind off of their current situation, especially Hikaru’s. The heir tended to blame himself whenever things turn out for the worst, such as in Shiho’s case. Knowing how Hikaru would most likely do the same, the leader wanted to do something to lighten the mood, or at least just make sure everyone won’t collapse under the stress.

“You really are a wild card,” Morgana meowed, eyeing Akira in interest. The teen, in return, flicked the cat’s nose, making Morgana let out a yowl of protest.

~~~

“…I was thinking you might not show,” Makoto said as the door to the rooftop opened, welcoming the four second years.

“So, whose heart are we changing?” Ann got to the point, face hardened.

“A mafia boss.” The group had to take a moment to make sure they heard it right. Hikaru, on the other hand, pulled out his phone and began tapping on it.

“Mafia?! What the heck?!” Ryuji yelled, stomping his foot.

“You’re talking about the one behind the scams in Shibuya, right?” Hikaru asked.

“That’s right. They have been threatening multiple students in Shujin, forcing them to take part in scams and ruining their entire lives, along with their families. They milk you for every bit of cash they can and toss you out when you’re dry.” Makoto tapped her foot against the desk she was leaning on.

“Holy crap…” Ryuji muttered.

“That’s brutal!” Ann whispered to herself.

“Do we have any intel on their boss? Name or anything?” Akira asked, slipping his hands into his pockets.

“He’s as elusive as they come. Apparently, no one knows anything about him.” The president brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ears, her eyes alight with determination. “The victims are even threatened not to testify, so not even the police have a solid grasp. All I can tell you is that their main targets seem to be juveniles, and they mainly act in Shibuya. I’ll give you two weeks.”

“You what?!” Ann exclaimed, incredulous. They had no intel whatsoever, and not to mention two weeks isn’t much time at all.

“You should be able to do it, no? If you are the righteous Phantom Thieves you say you are.” Makoto straightened herself, hands resting on her lap.

“But still, two weeks is…!”

Whatever Ryuji was about to say was interrupted by Akira’s loud sigh. He looked up at Makoto, resolution on his face. “Fine, we’ll do it.”

“That’s what I hoped for. I wish you all luck.” And with that, she was gone once again, leaving the Thieves in the dust. Ryuji let out a shout of anger off the roof, causing some startled birds to fly off.

“This is stupid! How the hell are we supposed to change a heart in two weeks when we don’t even have a name?!”

“…Junya Kaneshiro.”

All eyes turned to the heir, who has been on his phone for the entire conversation. Hikaru looked up at Akira, giving him a tight smile. “Deals with drugs, alcohol, extorts minors by getting blackmail of them with narcotics. That’s all I can get. Everything else is hidden.”

“Well, that certainly helps. Let’s get Yusuke up to date and go from there, and maybe figure out some keywords while we’re at it.”

~~~

“Alright, so Kaneshiro has a Palace. Who would’ve seen it coming.” Ann rolled her eyes, stifling her giggle at Hikaru’s deadpan.

“Who wants to go first? Throw words and maybe we’ll hit something.”

“Uhh…he takes money from everyone in Shibuya, so like a money bath? That’s trendy, isn’t it?” Ann suggested.

Ryuji shuddered, thinking about infiltrating a money bath. “Maybe an actual building?”

“A building that deals with money, so a bank?” Akira wondered out loud, which was a hit on Hikaru’s phone. “Oh, nice.”

“We have the person and distortion, so all that’s left is the place.” Yusuke placed a hand on his chin.

“Won’t it be his headquarters? But we have no idea where that is…Or maybe an actual bank?”

“Then there won’t be a distortion,” Morgana said. “Palaces are usually on a bigger scale, so maybe think bigger.”

“Oh, come on! How many people has he robbed in all of Shibuya?!”

_Target found. Beginning navigation._

“Wait, what?!”

Ryuji couldn’t get another word out before the distortion ripped him from their reality, dropping him into the Metaverse, along with the rest of the Thieves. And here they were, in the middle of Shibuya. The sky was red, money was everywhere, and no big fancy building around them screaming Palace in their faces.

“What the fuck is that?!” Panther screamed. And indeed, next to them were multiple ATMs. Walking ATMs who apparently just short circuit and crash to the ground.

Joker approached a lone ATM that was twitching at the side of the street, listening to its soft whimpers. “Please…no more…I don’t have any more money left…”

“This seems to be Kaneshiro’s cognition of his victims. Just ATMs that he can withdraw money from at any time.” Joker fiddled with his gloves, a pained expression on his face. “Clearly this is much bigger than we thought.”

“But where is the Palace? All the buildings look the same as normal Shibuya…” Fox looked around, and indeed, everything was the same. The Big Bang Burger still had its promotion flyers, Triple Seven Convenience had their daily discount signs, the movie theatre displays still showed current movies. If the atmosphere wasn’t so different, there was no way to tell that they were in the Metaverse.

“Give me a quick second.” Sky ran a quick diagnostic scan, and the Palace reading was definitely in the area. But what seemed strange that it was…moving. The Palace reading showed that it was almost right in front of them, approaching them from the front. Almost as if…

“Uh, Sky? I think I found it…”

A large shadow covered the Phantom Thieves, causing them to look up. And lo and behold, the Palace was there, up in the sky. A large golden bank in the middle of a floating platform the size of almost all of Shibuya. The money flowing everywhere was going directly towards the bank, the platform seemingly absorbing everything.

“How the fuck are we supposed to get up there?!” Skull shouted, eyes locked on the large bank in the sky.

“Uhh, Mona, can you turn into a helicopter or something?” Joker asked, scratching the back of his head.

“What the hell do you think I am? Some kind of transport? Might as well ask for a private jet at that…” Mona growled. The leader immediately backed off, hands raised. “Honestly, I have no idea how we’re getting up there.”

“I guess that’s all we can do here today. We’ll have to alter Kaneshiro’s cognition in some form to get in, most likely,” Sky said. With a nod, the reality around them began to twist once again, returning them back to the center of Shibuya Station Square.

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_AK:_ ** _So…Palace thoughts?_

**_RS:_ ** _already hate it and havent even gone in yet_

**_AT:_ ** _How are we supposed to get up there??_

**_AK:_ ** _Mona said something about Kaneshiros cognition leading to him being in the sky_

**_AK:_ ** _Something about him being untraceable_

**_YK:_ ** _The question still stands, we need some method of entering the Palace._

**_AK:_ ** _We would have to probably meet Kaneshiro in some form_

**_AT:_ ** _So maybe get recruited by one of those people?_

**_RS:_ ** _dunno bout that one, plus I don’t wanna deal with drugs_

**_AK:_ ** _Ryuji’s right, don’t think getting jobs will allow us to meet him so easily. The atms weren’t even on the platform, just left on the road while all their money got sucked out_

**_YK:_ ** _Perhaps we can try to get more info from some of those recruiters?_

**_AK:_ ** _That’s risky at best, and alerting them at worst_

**_AT:_ ** _Then what do we do?!_

**_AK:_ ** _honestly I have no idea_

**_AK:_ ** _we’re kinda stuck here_

**_HA:_ ** _hi im online whats happenin_

**_HA:_ ** _ok I have a plan but its really fucking risky and could possibly end in our deaths_

**_AK:_ ** _well lets hear it before we decide_

**_HA:_ ** _we get them to take us to Kaneshiro_

**_AT:_ ** _ok…_

**_HA:_ ** _most likely we will be blackmailed immediately in some way_

**_HA:_ ** _but it will give us a way to Kaneshiro_

**_HA:_ ** _but once again, we’ll have to work fast to change his heart, maybe even in an evening or even shorter than that_

**_HA:_ ** _since we have no idea how much time he’ll give us if at all_

**_RS:_ ** _ngl that sounds absolutely crazy_

**_YK:_ ** _That has many variables in it, I would say._

**_AT:_ ** _yeah_

**_HA:_ ** _really cant think of anything else that will fit makoto’s time restraint_

**_HA:_ ** _sorry guys_

**_AT:_ ** _no its fine! It’s not your fault_

**_AT:_ ** _if anything its ryuji’s and mine_

**_RS:_ ** _yea we got us in this mess its our fault_

**_RS:_ ** _but the prez’s requests aside, I still wanna change kaneshiro’s heart_

**_RS:_ ** _i mean, he’s basically like the perfect target for us, preying on the weak and everything_

**_AK:_ ** _Alright. We can leave Hikaru’s plan for a last resort, when we really cant do anything else. But since we still have time, we can just try to think of something else. For now, let’s just try to do something about Makoto._

**_YK:_ ** _Agreed. Shall we meet up tomorrow once again to discuss our possible options?_

**_AK:_ ** _That._

_~~~_

“So what the heck do we do?!”

Ryuji groaned, leaning back on the railing. Ann flicked his temple, causing him to let out a weird noise of annoyance. The girl rolled her eyes, a finger twirling around a pigtail.

“I have honestly no idea since there’s no safe way for us to meet Kaneshiro,” Akira whined. “How do we get a mafia boss to let us meet him?”

Hikaru hummed, earphones blasting catchy pop music in his ears. It was loud enough to tune out most of the crowd’s chatter but soft enough to be able to hear the conversation.

“Ah, am I interrupting? It seems that you all are stuck somehow…” Sure enough, Makoto approached the group, oblivious to the Thieves’ look of annoyance at her appearance.

“What does it matter to you?” Yusuke was less than subtle with his dislike of the student council president. If Makoto noticed, she ignored it, or at least doesn’t seem bothered.

“I only hope to be useful in your endeavors. It is also my responsibility, seeing as Shujin students have come to me for help.”

“Well, stay out of this. You’re useless in how we do things,” Ann said, tone sharp and poisonous. It seemed that those words stung, if Makoto’s shudder and breath indicated anything.

“…Useless…” Makoto muttered, eyes closing and reopening, now with a new light in her red irises. Hikaru slipped an earbud out, a warning ringing in his mind.

“To be frank, yes. You cannot help us at all, so please stick your nose out of this.” Yusuke narrowed his eyes.

“You were talking about needing to meet Kaneshiro, yes?” Makoto’s voice was different, more resolute and stronger. That caused everyone’s eyes to go wide. She walked away, her posture straight and powerful.

“Wait, Makoto!” Honorifics were forgotten as Hikaru tried to call out to the third year to no avail. The heir muttered out a curse, gesturing wildly for the rest of them to follow him. “Hurry! We don’t know what the hell she’ll do at this rate! We need to get her before she does something absolutely stupid!”

Following Hikaru’s lead, the group quickly moved in pursuit.

Akira’s phone rang as they arrived at Central Street. He answered with an urgent tone. “Hello?”

“It’s Makoto. Keep the line on and record the call.”

“What is she thinking?!” Morgana whispered, not wanting the call to pick up his meows.

“Hi, where can I meet Kaneshiro?” Hikaru let his mind wander, focusing on the familiar presence of Makoto. A tug brought his attention to a side alley, and he moved without any hesitation, leaving the rest of the Thieves behind. And sure enough, down the alley was Makoto, about to enter a car with two shady men.

“Fuck! Makoto!” Hikaru bolted towards the car, but the two mafia members saw him, shoving him back.

“Back off, kid!”

“Hey, wait a minute…take him with us. The boss would probably want him too.”

“…I guess it wouldn’t hurt.” Before Hikaru could struggle, the two of them shoved him into the car, along with Makoto, whose expression turned into panic at seeing Hikaru with her.

The car drove off right as the Thieves got to them. But Yusuke’s quick thinking seems to have helped them.

“I got the number plate. Someone, get a taxi!” Ryuji immediately moved to action, trying to wave a taxi, but it ignored him. Clicking his tongue, Ryuji jumped in front of the next one, which caused panicked yells from Ann and Akira.

“Ryuji!”

“I’m fine, just get in!”

~~~

“Who would’ve thought that the world would just drop you two in front of me?”

Hikaru couldn’t talk through the tape over his mouth, but the glare he was giving the large man on the seat in front of him was enough to convey his emotions. His arms were tied behind him, with Makoto beside him being held down by the two mafia members from earlier.

“The Aozora heir…it seems like we’ve struck gold. Good job, boys.”

Kaneshiro whistled to himself, pulling out two briefcases. “Now…how much can I cash out from you two…Maybe an entire briefcase?” the man wondered out loud, a large grin on his face.

Makoto struggled once again, but it was no use. She couldn’t fight against two grown men holding her down, no matter how much martial arts training she has.

“Hikaru! Makoto!” And in rushed the Thieves. In hindsight, it was probably a terrible idea for them to rush into what looked like a bar with alcohol all over, but it was an emergency, after all.

“Let her go, you stupid bastard!” Ryuji yelled; eyes narrowed.

Kaneshiro scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You fucking idiots, you were followed!” He shouted at the two thugs. Both of them flinched but kept their grips on the girl.

“God, I’m so pissed off…” Kaneshiro growled. He then turned to a woman beside him, who was leaning all over him. “Hey, how much was that bag you wanted, the crocodile one?”

“Hmm…about three million yen?”

The mafia boss flipped open the briefcase in front of him, revealing what looks to be stacks of money, arranged according to the millions, if Hikaru wasn’t wrong. He reached in, taking out three stacks and handed it to the lady, who squealed in joy. “Really?!”

“You see, when I’m pissed off, I like spending money,” Kaneshiro began, turning towards the Thieves. “And sadly, I’m also a perfectionist, you see. I like it when everything’s filled perfectly. And would you look at that, I’m three million yen short now.”

“And all of you will be filling that up for me, since it’s your fault and everything.”

“In your dreams!” Ann yelled, looking like she was about to jump the boss.

Kaneshiro pulled out his phone, snapping an image of the Thieves, who couldn’t react at all to the situation.

“Hmm, let’s see. Oh man, there’s booze and everything, maybe a couple of cigs too… Imagine if the police saw this, what would they think?” All of them stiffened. “I think I’ll call it ‘Debauchery of Minors in a Club’. Sounds appropriate, no?”

“You little…” Ryuji moved forward, but Akira held him back.

“You can blame your little miss president over here for all of that. Oh, and what’ll I do about you?” Kaneshiro turned his eyes onto Hikaru. The heir, however, made eye contact with Akira.

_“Get out if you can, leave me if you must. I’ll be fine, just get the change of heart and I’ll be okay.”_

_Are you kidding me?! There’s no way we’re leaving you with him!_

_“I don’t think we have a choice here, Akira!”_

“Let him go.” That caught everyone off guard, even the mafia members.

“There’s no benefit in having him here, anyway. After all, I have his picture too, and he knows how influential the media can be, don’t you, little Aozora?” A man teared off the tape covering his mouth, Hikaru taking deep breaths. “Keeping him here would just give them a trace to us.”

“Now, for you, I’ll add a little bit more. You see this empty briefcase?” He tapped the empty briefcase he took out earlier. “I was thinking how nice it’ll look all filled up, and you’ll be the perfect sponsor. I was thinking about three hundred million yen?” The sheer number made Ryuji and Ann’s jaw drop open, but Hikaru’s glare didn’t falter.

“Oh, just thinking about it makes me feel all jumpy inside,” said Kaneshiro, his grin never dropping. “Now hurry off now, and maybe you can beg your parents for some money while you’re at it…After all, summer bonuses are coming, and you can convince daddy and mommy to give you some more cash for your allowance…” Kaneshiro laughed darkly, gesturing for his men to take them away.

They were thrown out of the building, thugs all around them as they were left close to the alleyway that they were taken from. Without wasting any time, the Thieves quickly left the area, not wanting to stay there longer than needed. The atmosphere around the group was gloomy, especially around Makoto who was behind the main group. They came to a stop once they returned to Central Street with Makoto stepping in front.

“I’m sorry, everyone…” Makoto bowed her head in shame. “Just don’t worry about the money, I’ll do something about it…”

“Even the three hundred million?” Akira raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll…find some way to pay it off, so just please…ignore my request.” Makoto fiddled with the hem of her skirt, her eyes slightly watery. What would Sae say if she knew about what she did? Would she try to help? Would she throw her to the side, leave her to fend for herself? She was only a burden to her, after all…

“Actually, now that I see it, this might be in our favor…” Everyone looked up in confusion at Hikaru’s words. “Now we have a way in, no?”

“I think it’ll do fine!” Morgana chimed in. “With Makoto and Hikaru, the Palace will have to let us in, yeah?”

“What are all of you saying…?” Makoto looked around as the Thieves nodded in agreement. Akira reached a hand out, a smile on his face.

“Won’t you come with us, and change Kaneshiro’s heart?”

“W-What? You don’t need to anymore, I’m not going to…”

“Trust me, at this point, we want to do it too. We’ve reached a unanimous decision, and you’re the last one. What do you say?”

“…Alright. I have nothing to lose.”

The world around them twisted once again, bringing them from the middle of Shibuya back into Kaneshiro’s Palace. Makoto watched as the image of Akira in front of her shimmered and seemingly vanished, replaced by Joker, the leader of the Phantom Thieves.

“Alright, we’re here, so what do we do?” Skull stretched, resting his lead pipe on his shoulders.

“Wait, what was that?! Where are we?!” Makoto yelled in panic, which is rightfully justified. She was dragged into the Metaverse with no warning whatsoever, so of course she was going to scream and panic.

“Welcome to the Metaverse, where the Phantom Thieves operate.” Joker greeted with a bow.

“Yeah! You’ll get to see first-hand how the Phantom Thieves work!” Mona said from beside the leader, causing Makoto to let out a yelp.

“What the heck is that?! Some kind of monster cat?!”

Mona deflated at that, hiding behind Joker’s legs. “I’m not a monster cat…” he muttered softly.

“This is Morgana, our guide to the Metaverse. He’s the one who taught us how to change a heart,” Panther introduced, foot nudging Mona. Makoto, now slightly calmer, composed herself and asked her question

“Okay, now in detail. What is this place? What happened to all of you? And most importantly, how do you change a heart?”

~~~

“So it is due to a change of cognition, not of the heart itself…” Makoto muttered to herself. With the help of Sky and Joker, Mona explained what the Thieves have done so far, while the others idled and maybe played a game of hopscotch or something. Sky wasn’t really paying attention.

“I mean, you got that quicker than Skull over there did,” Mona gestured to said blond delinquent, who seemed to be doodling on some piece of paper that Fox gave him.

“Speaking of that, what is the point of the code names?” Makoto asked.

“It’s to prevent any trace to us, much like in a normal group of thieves. Because this is a world of cognition, we have no idea if yelling our names in Palaces will have any effect on the owner. So, just to be safe, code names.” Sky shrugged. “I’m Sky the navigator; Joker’s the leader; Ryuji or Skull’s kinda our frontline; Ann or Panther’s our magical damage and support; Mona’s healer and scout; and Fox is backline support. It helps that all our Personas cover different elements to cover weaknesses.”

“Alright, I think that’s enough for a rundown. We should get going.” Joker called everyone over, and looked up at the platform, Sky and Makoto at his side.

Sure enough, a path was lowered for them, giving them direct access to the bank.

“Hope you’re ready, Makoto.”

“…As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys find it helpful if I leave Hikaru's stats? I didn't really think that much into stats, since he is navigation, but if you want me to, I can figure it out. I have a rough idea.


	19. The Sin of Gluttony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awakening, and then Palace shenanigans #3.

“Before we go in,” Joker stopped the group outside the Palace, “shouldn’t we take precautions for Makoto?”

“Oh, no need to worry,” Makoto reassured them, “I know aikido and am able to defend myself.”

“Uhh…I don’t know if that’ll do…but I guess it’s better than nothing.” Ann flicked a pigtail over her shoulder.

“Alright. If we’re prepared, we’re going in. Phantom Thieves, on the defensive!”

Joker lead the way, confidence in his stride. Matching him on his sides were Skull and Mona, eyes wary for any attackers. Tightly on the sides were Panther and Fox, leaving Sky and Makoto in the middle. The president watched in awe as the Phantom Thieves easily fell into position. This was how the famous Phantom Thieves worked, just like cogs in a well-oiled machine.

“Welcome to the Bank of Kaneshiro. You are the VIPs, yes? Our president has been expecting you. Please, right this way.” The Shadow showed the way, and Joker followed. There was no reason to anger the Shadows, and what better way to get a feeling of the Palace than to have a Shadow lead them through it?

“VIPs?” Panther muttered under her breath.

“Remember, Sky and Makoto both owe a huge sum to Kaneshiro. They’ll probably be the top customers, and therefore, VIPs in his cognition,” Mona explained from the front, eyes not turning back.

“Please, right in here. Our president is waiting.” The Shadow stopped at the door, opening it for them. The Thieves were ushered in, stopping at the large amount of cash on the table. It was literally a mountain of money, stacked neatly on the large conference table. And at the head of the table was a screen, showing what was clearly Kaneshiro’s Shadow.

“Unauthorized entry, property damage, disruption, and other disturbances. Together with the debt under Mr. Aozora, that is a total of three hundred and three million yen. I assume you are here for that, Miss Student Council President?”

On the screen, Kaneshiro turned around, showing his true face. He looked much like the real Kaneshiro, but with purple skin and black hair, as well as the distinct golden-yellow eyes of Shadows.

“It must be quite tough, gathering that much money at once. I am willing to offer a loan, however,” Kaneshiro’s mouth turned upwards, “at an interest rate of ten percent per day.”

“That’s basically pointless, isn’t it?” Fox remarked. “An interest rate that high would be ridiculous to accept.”

“But fret not, there is an option for you, Niijima-san, or should I say, younger sister of the beautiful prosecutor Sae Niijima?”

Makoto took a step back in shock. “How did you know that?!”

“Please don’t underestimate our intelligence network. It might pale under the Aozora’s, but it is not to be taken lightly. I’m sure you’re aware of this yourself, Aozora-san.” Kaneshiro’s eyes turned towards Sky, who let out a ‘hmph’, crossing his arms.

“But how convenient this is, two powerful families falling right into my lap. I should thank the stars. Kids these days are so dumb, falling for these kinds of scams. It should be a given that I reap the rewards.”

“How despicable,” Fox scoffed, rolling his eyes under his mask.

“You better watch out, Kaneshiro, ‘cause we’re coming for that Treasure!” Ryuji declared. Kaneshiro just laughed in response, a challenging look on his face.

“Don’t make me laugh. My citadel has the highest security installed in it. Now…” With a snap of his fingers, Shadows appeared in front of the group.

“Get out of my sight.”

The Shadows in front of them leapt to attack, leaving them with no option but to fight. Appearing before them were two ogre-like Shadows, with red skin and a large naginata in its hands. It let out a large roar, preparing to engage the Thieves.

“Makoto, behind me! Phantom Thieves, magical attackers!” Sky wasted no time in assuming leadership in battle. Panther, Mona, Fox, and Joker stood at the front, hands at their masks ready to summon their Personas at the navigator’s command. Sky stood at the back with Skull watching his rear, his goggles off his face.

“Onis, Physical attacks are totally nullified. Joker, buffing you up!” A large slam on the ground from Merlin’s staff jolted Joker’s body.

Joker pulled off his mask, summoning a Matador. The skeleton bullfighter waved his cloth as psychic energy began to gather around the two Oni, ripping them from the inside and causing them to let out twin shouts of agony. They both fell to the ground, prone to more attacks as the group went in for an All-Out Attack.

One of the Onis let out a large roar, rushing towards Panther. The girl leaped and twirled out of the way with grace, using her whip to immobilize the Oni and its weapon. Dropping her whip, she ripped off her mask, flames erupting from under the Oni. The Oni let out a final scream before dissipating into dust, leaving behind Panther’s whip, which she skipped over and picked up.

Makoto watched in awe as she saw the level of grace and mobility that all the Thieves moved with. Was it just physical prowess, or some form of cognition materialized? Mona had mentioned that the reason guns worked was because of this cognition, so was this the same? Her mind refocused on the scene in front of her as the final Oni withered into dust.

“Alright, we’re leaving! Evacuation Protocol!” Joker yelled, and once again, everyone fell into position without a moment’s hesitation. The group ran out at full speed, occasionally having to hurl spells back or shoot at the Shadows that tried to attack them.

“Joker, up front! Switch to a tanky one!”

Right as they were about to leave, however, Shadows appeared before the group, lunging for the attack. However, due to Sky’s call, Joker was there to block the brunt of the attack from Sky and Makoto.

“There’s no end to them, they just keep coming!” Panther yelled but drew her weapon regardless. They had a mission to do.

“You seem to be quite in the pickle there, you petty thieves. Serves you right, I suppose, for trying to infiltrate my Palace.” Kaneshiro approached the group, hands in his pockets.

“Now, let’s not waste any time.” With a clap, more Shadows appeared. “I have a bank to run, you see, and troublesome customers are just in the way. Removing a brat would just set an example to the standards I’m holding.” Kaneshiro straightened his suit, the grin on his face growing.

“Just stop this!” Makoto pleaded. Panther was about to interject, but Sky held her back. Readings of Persona activity within Makoto was skyrocketing, along with Nuclear energy readings. It seems Makoto would awaken to a Nuclear Persona, which is amazing in terms of elemental diversity for this Palace, if his quick glances at the Shadows when they entered were correct.

“Just let it happen.

“You’ve no need to worry, you’re still a valued customer. After all, you come in a bundle deal.” Kaneshiro’s grin twisted. “Your sister is quite the beauty, no? She would’ve been so successful…if only her younger sister wasn’t so dumb.”

“Leave my sister out of this!”

“Then you better start taking customers yourself. You’re pretty yourself, so you’ll make three million in no time. Just endure it and do as you’re told. Though, by then, your entire life will be in shambles!”

“Endure it…” Makoto muttered, eyebrows scrunching in anger. “Do as I’m told…”

“Oh, what a shame that'll be! The great fall of the Niijimas, all because of you! How your sister will hate you!”

“…Shut up.” Sky could feel his own smirk growing.

Kaneshiro raised an eyebrow at that, smirk dropping. “What did you say?”

“I’ve been listening to you go on and on…” Makoto clenched her fists.

“Shut your damn mouth, you money-grubbing asshole!”

 ** _“Have you finally decided to tread the path of strife?”_** And there it was. The Persona readings were off the charts, and energy was beginning to gather around Makoto. The group could rest easy and just watch now.

“Yes…come to me!” Makoto said in confidence.

 ** _“Very well. Let us proceed with our contract at once.”_** Makoto let out a soft grunt at the pain that was growing in her head. Her eyes glowed yellow, her hands moving up to clutch at her temples. She gritted her teeth, bracing herself.

 ** _“I am thou, thou art I. You have finally found your own justice, so please…never lose sight of it again.”_** The pain grew stronger as her Persona makes the contract. Makoto let out one loud yell and stomped her foot, breaking the concrete of the Palace.

Joker let out an impressed whistle, receiving an elbow on the side from Panther.

 ** _“This memorable day marks your graduation from your false self. Congratulations.”_** A metallic mask formed over Makoto’s face as she panted heavily from the exertion earlier. A hand came up to grab it, and using her full strength, she pulled it off with a scream.

Blue flames enveloped her entire being as chains around her fell down. The revving of a bike could be heard, and the dust settled. Ryuji was the first one to say something. “…That’s a goddamn bike.”

Makoto’s Persona had taken the form of a bike covered in a metallic coating. The president herself was wearing a biker outfit with a long scarf, and sharp spikes on her shoulder pads.

“This is the real me…” Makoto muttered under the breath, feeling the power in her hands. Her eyes snapped open, slamming her foot on the accelerator. “Gun it, Johanna!”

The bike sped forward, only skidding right at the front to knock back the Shadows that were there. Kaneshiro, momentarily stunned at the Awakening, quickly composed himself and straightened his suit once again. He snapped his fingers, gesturing at the Shadows beside him. “Earn your keep, you useless fools, or you’re next on the block!”

The Shadows responded accordingly, rushing to attack the Thieves, melting into their true forms. Makoto turned around, looking back at everyone, an excited smile on her face. Joker responded with a nod, leaping in with Panther and Mona to provide backup.

Sky nodded to the rest and gestured to the Shadows behind them, then turned his attention back towards the front.

“Alright, Makoto! Go wild! There’s a Nuclear weakness in there!” With a roar from Johanna’s engines, nuclear energy burst from the floor, burning the Shadows with pure radiation. One of them let out a loud screech, falling onto the ground with scorch marks all over its body. Joker followed up with a Maeiha, summoning dark energy to surround the rest of the Shadows, knocking them down for an All-Out Attack.

“Sky, watch out!” The navigator turned and flung his goggles off, summoning Merlin who blocked the lunge from the Fuu-Ki behind him. Captain Kidd came to the rescue, crashing his ship into the Oni and knocking it away from Sky.

Turning back, Sky could see that the battle was basically over after the All-Out Attack, with Joker and Makoto going to assist the rest. Once again, Makoto sped into battle, knocking one Shadow down by ramming into it with Johanna. Skull immediately followed up with Captain Kidd, and Fox finished it off with a slice from Goemon’s blade.

“Follow my lead!” Makoto yelled out, driving past the Shadows and knocking down the double doors of the Palace entrance.

“We’re getting out!” Joker yelled, following Makoto’s lead as she drove out of the Palace. The group quickly made their escape, jumping back at the rift between their two worlds.

~~~

**_Phantom of the Opera_ **

**_RS:_ ** _yo makoto your personas so cool wtf_

**_MN:_ ** _You have a skeleton pirate on a ship. That is plenty cool itself._

**_YK:_ ** _By the way, how would you like us to refer to you, Niijima-san?_

**_MN:_ ** _Just Makoto is fine. We’ll have to drop formalities eventually, so why not now?_

**_YK:_ ** _Fair enough. Makoto it is._

**_AK:_ ** _welcome to this shitshow_

**_MN:_ ** _…Glad to be here?_

**_AK:_ ** _you’ll soon regret that_

**_AT:_ ** _did Kaneshiro say anything else earlier?_

**_MN:_ ** _No, just saying that he expected the money by July 9 th. That gives us a little less than three weeks._

**_AK:_ ** _that’s quite a lot of time_

**_MN:_ ** _I have no idea how large the Palace will be, but I assume that it isn’t as big as I thought, since you are so relaxed?_

**_AK:_ ** _oh no I have no idea too_

**_AK:_ ** _its just that its quite a lot of time, a bit more than what we had with Madarame, and we finished that palace in three or four days, I think?_

**_AK:_ ** _hikaru streamlines the palace for us so we don’t have to go through every small room looking for the treasure_

**_AK:_ ** _really helps us conserve time, but if we want to get more treasure we can go through everything_

**_MN:_ ** _Ah, I see. Then will we be going tomorrow? It would be best to finish it as soon as possible, no?_

**_AK:_ ** _ill decide tomorrow, maybe do some supply runs and weapons maintenance first_

**_MN:_ ** _Alright. Also, everyone, I would like to apologize._

**_RS:_ ** _?_

**_YK:_ ** _What for?_

**_MN:_ ** _We wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for me and my rash decisions._

**_AT:_ ** _Its ok! I would have to apologize as well, since I did say those things to you…_

**_MN:_ ** _That’s alright, I did deserve them. I did nothing to help Suzui-san, after all…_

**_AK:_ ** _its fine, makoto. we would’ve changed Kaneshiro’s heart regardless of your request anyway, so its not that important. now it just gives us a motivator to do it._

**_RS:_ ** _yea!!_

**_MN:_ ** _…If you all say so._

**_AK:_ ** _btw, where’s hikaru_

**_RS:_ ** _idk man he was supposed to play league with me_

**_MN:_ ** _…Did you all finish your homework, at least?_

**_RS:_ ** _ye hikaru helped me through most of it in lunch and i’m finishing the rest rn_

**_MN:_ ** _Then do what you want, I guess._

**_RS:_ ** _thx mom_

**_AK:_ ** _well, that was fast_

**_AT:_ ** _Makoto’s group mom!_

~~~

**_PM: AT - > MN_ **

**_AT:_ ** _Hey, Makoto…_

**_MN:_ ** _Is something wrong?_

**_AT:_ ** _No, it’s just…I wanted to properly apologize_

**_AT:_ ** _I said some things that were really harsh now that I look back at it_

**_AT:_ ** _I blamed Kamoshida’s sexual harassment on you and everything, but I wasn’t exactly doing anything about it either…_

**_AT:_ ** _I just didn’t want to accept that it was my fault too, so I blamed everything on you…_

**_AT:_ ** _So…I’m sorry._

**_MN:_ ** _I would have to apologize as well, then._

**_AT:_ ** _What?_

**_MN:_ ** _As you said, I did nothing about Suzui-san’s situation, as well as for the entire volleyball team._

**_MN:_ ** _That is an undeniable fact._

**_MN:_ ** _I always thought that I wasn’t at fault, since I was just doing what I was told, but what happened was a wakeup call._

**_MN:_ ** _I just didn’t want to acknowledge my own worthlessness._

**_MN:_ ** _That fear was what motivated me to act as harshly to all of you._

**_MN:_ ** _I would have to apologize to Akira as well, seeing as I did threaten him with his criminal record…_

**_AT:_ ** _Yeah, that’s a bit of a sore spot for him…_

**_AT:_ ** _But for now, why don’t we call it even?_

**_AT:_ ** _You and I both apologized, so let’s just move past it! We can’t let this threaten our Phantom Thieves dynamic, after all._

**_MN:_ ** _That is true._

**_MN:_ ** _Fair enough, let’s move past this. Also, may I call you Ann?_

**_AT:_ ** _Sure! We’re friends now, so yeah!_

**_MN:_ ** _Alright, Ann. Would you like to go get some crepes after school tomorrow?_

**_AT:_ ** _Yeah! Let’s go!_

_~~~_

**_PM: MN - > AK_ **

**_MN:_ ** _I know it is quite late, but I do need to tell you something._

**_AK:_ ** _whats up_

**_MN:_ ** _I just wanted to apologize about what happened._

**_MN:_ ** _I threatened you with your criminal record, which Ann told me is still a sensitive topic._

**_MN:_ ** _So I thought it is only correct for me to apologize properly._

**_AK:_ ** _eh, water under the bridge_

**_AK:_ ** _its true that its still a sensitive topic, but it isn’t as bad as you think it is_

**_AK:_ ** _im getting over it, and i wouldn’t have met all of you if it weren’t for me getting arrested_

**_AK:_ ** _so yeah, im looking at the silver linings here_

**_MN:_ ** _That’s fine, I guess._

**_MN:_ ** _I’m still sorry, though._

**_AK:_ ** _apology accepted. does that make it better?_

**_MN:_ ** _Much better. Well, goodnight then._

**_AK:_ ** _night_

_~~~_

“What’s the plan?”

The Thieves stopped at that, looking at each other in confusion. Sky sighed.

“Uhh…we just run in and beat them up?” Skull replied timidly, scratching the back of his head.

“…Are you serious?” Makoto raised an eyebrow, shifting her mask slightly.

“We usually leave the planning and everything to Joker and Sky…” Panther fiddled with her whip, eyes looking around.

The leader and navigator looked at each other, both shrugging. “We just kind of adapt on the fly, if anything. There’s no concrete plan in terms of infiltration, just us taking things as they come. In battle, it’s all Sky.” Joker said.

“In battle I usually try to advise one person on support, one on magical damage, one on physical, and Joker to round off everything. Currently Mona’s healing is the best out of all of us, so he’s designated support. Panther can also do individual healing, and from what I can see, you can do group healing and status recovery. Physical attackers would be Skull and Fox, and magical would be Panther and you.” Sky pulled out a hologram map he had scanned earlier of the Palace as he explained.

“Merlin highlights the quickest route for us to the core of the Palace, where Mona feels the Treasure.” The navigator pointed at the highlighted path, which seemed to lead deep into the platform the bank sits on. “We just follow the path, occasionally going off path to find a nearby safe room or to explore for loot or valuables. Other than that, we adapt on the fly, really.”

“I see. Speaking of which, what should I be called? I need a code name too, no?” Makoto crossed her arms.

“Uhh…it’s hard this time. Maybe Shoulder Pads?” Skull scratched the back of his head.

Sky let out a snort, silencing at a glare from Makoto. “I refuse to be called that,” she said, offense in her tone.

“How about Rider?” Fox piped up.

“Too much like a smuggler. Next.”

“Woah, she reminds me so much of an empress…” Mona muttered, eyes wide. He wasn’t wrong; Makoto’s presence was oppressive at the worst, but absolutely gentle at the best. It truly reminded Sky of a ruler, of a queen.

“Then how about Queen?” It seemed that Joker had the same thought.

“…It has a nice ring to it. I’ll take it. Any objections?” Skull straightened at a glance from Queen under her mask.

“N-None, Queen!”

“Totally a sub,” Sky muttered under his breath, making Joker cough trying to conceal a snort.

“You’re right, but you shouldn’t say it.”

~~~

“Okay, these cameras are gettin’ on my nerves! Can we just, I don’t know, break them?” Ryuji yelled, throwing his pipe onto the ground.

“I mean, go for it? What’s the worst that will happen, we fight more Shadows?” Sky meant this totally sarcastically, but it seemed that Skull thought the opposite. The thug grabbed his pipe, and proceeded to fling it straight at a camera, knocking it off the wall with a few sparks. It landed on the ground with a crash, and a strange buzzing sound from the snapped wires on the wall.

There was a moment of silence as all of them stared at the broken camera on the floor before Queen spoke up.

“Well, I suppose that works?”

“Hell yeah!” Skull picked up and threw his pipe once again at the next camera down the hall, doing the same as the previous one.

“Um…” Panther looked at the navigator, who let out a long, stressed sigh a hand dragging down his face.

“Don’t talk to me.”

~~~

“Hey, Queen, can you run over Shadows with your bike?”

It was an innocent question from Panther that led to this ridiculous operation down the hall of the bank. A few meters in front of the Thieves was an unsuspecting shadow, and here was Queen, about to hit the pedal to the metal.

On the passenger seat of the bike was Sky, facing the back of the bike. The seat was more than big enough to fit the navigator, so it allowed him to comfortably sit without worrying about falling off. As to why he was on the bike, he had no idea. Joker was right in front of him, sending him a cheeky grin and a salute.

“Gun it, Queen!” Mona cheered, and they were off. To be fair, Sky barely felt anything as they sped through the halls, only alerted to the fact that they hit the Shadow by the screams of the Thieves. And then he made the mistake of looking down.

The Shadow looked like roadkill, a pile of broken limbs bleeding black blood all over the velvet carpet of the bank. After a minute or so, it vanished into thin air, much like any normal Shadow. Merlin told him that the Shadow was weakened without even revealing its true form, and that was enough to defeat it. But still, it was brutal.

“Holy shit,” Joker said with an impressed whistle.

“I think I’m gonna be sick…” Panther gagged, holding onto Fox to steady herself.

“Well, it did what it was supposed to do, albeit a bit brutally…” Mona muttered, face scrunching in slight disgust.

“Johanna wasn’t exactly happy with that, either. Let’s keep this for a last resort, alright?” Queen dismounted, and Sky bounced onto his feet as the motorcycle under him vanished back into Queen’s mask.

“That was actually kinda fun. Take me on motorbike rides around town, Queen.” Sky requested, Joker chopping him on the head gently.

“Alright, keep the Roadkill strategy a last resort. But let’s focus now…Also, Sky, it’s my turn next.”

~~~

“Here’s the security console. Sky?”

The navigator took a seat at the console, hands flying across the keyboard. He let Merlin enter the system, shutting down all security cameras and raising all grates in the area. With a little more poking, it was even possible to turn off all cameras, even the ones under the bank itself. Turns out ‘highest security’ really didn’t mean much at all.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” Two large guards entered, both dressed in different uniforms compared to the other ones they had seen around the bank. Seems like these ones are stronger and have a higher status.

“No time to waste, take them out!” Joker jumped on one, Queen on the other. Both of them ripped off the guards’ masks at the same time, releasing the Shadows’ true forms. One was in the shape of a skeletal humanoid with a horse head, covered by a red hat. The other took the form of a white lion with a black tail covered in scales.

The power readings on Sky’s goggles indicated that both were extremely strong, with third-level magical skills, while the party barely had any second-level ones. The horse creature, a Kumbhanda, cackled, gathering a large amount of dark energy under Joker.

“Joker, Shiki-Ouji, now!” The leader didn’t hesitate at all, switching his Persona in time to dispel the dark energy with no damage done.

“These guys are strong, watch out! Fire and Curse attacks!” The lion, a Cerberus, roared, summoning pillars of flame all around the room. With the exception of Panther, the party suffered some damage, with some burns here and there. Sky bit his lip, mind racing as he tried to think of a counterplan. He pulled his goggles off.

“Merlin, I need your help!” Sparks of magic erupted from Merlin’s staff, dissipating into the ground and up Joker and Fox’s bodies. Mona yelled for Zorro, healing everyone up with a Media.

“Use your elements! Joker, Bless!” A bright flash of light from Matador stunned both Shadows, immediately following by sharp shards of ice from Goemon. The two Shadows yelled in agony and fell, opening them up to an All-Out Attack.

The Cerberus recovered first, howling as pillars of flame surrounded Fox, who let out a shout of pain, falling to the floor. The lion rushed forward, bashing its tail harshly against Skull’s side, sending him flying back a few feet. The Kumbhanda stumbled back onto its feet, supported by its staff, and yelled at Panther, blasting large amounts of dark energy at her. She let out a scream, falling onto one knee.

“Mona, Queen, support! Joker, just stall for as long as you can!” The horse-faced Shadow was easily stalled, since its attacks couldn’t affect Joker. The Cerberus, however, seemed to keep its attacks on the leader, but its eyes were on Sky. The navigator was paying attention to the wounded, as Mona and Queen pumped healing spells into the rest.

“I need help! Sky, can you cover me?!” Merlin rushed towards Joker, blocking the Kumbhanda’s stab with its staff, but Sky didn’t notice the Cerberus who had disengaged from Joker. It was charging an Agidyne right under the navigator, who couldn’t dodge in time. Queen was the only one who noticed, but her warning was too late. “Sky, watch out-”

Sky let out a shout of agony as he felt the fire burn dance across his body, burning him severely. He collapsed onto the ground immediately after the attack ended. The Cerberus howled, slowly approaching the downed navigator, a gleam in its yellow eyes.

“SKY!” Skull and Panther cried, jumping back onto their feet. The two blonds summoned their Personas, pushing the Cerberus back with their attacks. Queen also came to help, using Johanna to ram the Kumbhanda off of Joker and casting a Freila to kill it, it vanishing with a yell.

The Cerberus tried one final Maragidyne, but it wasn’t able to fend off four powerful Persona users all by itself. It wasn’t long before it was defeated, becoming dust at a strong attack from Captain Kidd. Once it was gone, everyone rushed to Sky, who was getting treated by Mona.

“Here, let me help.” Panther called out Carmen, using some recovery spells to patch up the burn marks, as well as some of the bleeding caused by the burns. The navigator groaned, feeling his skin shift to heal up his wounds.

“You alright?” Joker reached out a hand, which Sky grabbed, pulling himself up.

“I could say the same for you, leader.”

Joker looked worse than he did, to be honest. There were burns and scratches all over his body under his clothes, Sky noted to himself as he took a glance. He nodded to the leader, eyes on Mona. The cat nodded, jumping over to check out and heal the leader’s wounds.

“Hey, the Shadows dropped something.” Fox noted, and everyone turned to look. On the ground where the Shadows disappeared were indeed cards, which seemed to be some sort of key cards. Most probably to the giant vault door underground, which led to the deeper area of the Palace, under the bank.

“That’s great, but I think that we should stop exploration here for today. We’re probably exhausted from that battle earlier, plus all the exploration we’ve done so far. Let’s just get out for now.” No one could object to that. They were all tired from the exploration, and Sky’s map showed that they made significant progress. Another day and everything should be finished in terms of infiltration.

“Great, because I’m fucking pooped,” Skull remarked, groaning as he stretched his shoulder.

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_MN:_ ** _Hikaru, how are you doing?_

**_AT:_ ** _yeah you took one whole agidyne to the face_

**_HA:_ ** _still stings a bit but otherwise fine_

**_AK:_ ** _just remember to say something if it acts up_

**_AK:_ ** _ill get mona to heal you a bit more tomorrow if its still hurting_

**_HA:_ ** _its fine, not a big deal_

**_HA:_ ** _you all get hit by worse things_

**_AT:_ ** _yeah, but we have resistances and everything_

**_HA:_ ** _but still you all have quite bad injuries_

**_HA:_ ** _a burn isn’t the worst thing i could’ve gotten_

**_AK:_ ** _yea but still_

**_HA:_ ** _boi i said im fine_

**_AK:_ ** _…fine ok_

**_RS:_ ** _not to ruin hikaru’s lecturing but totally unrelated question_

**_AT:_ ** _?_

**_RS:_ ** _how tf do u do the last question on the hw????_

**_AK:_ ** _didn’t we just cover this in class_

**_AK:_ ** _like literally a few hrs ago_

**_RS:_ ** _fam i was phantom thieving and kicking ass_

**_AK:_ ** _so was i whats your point_

**_HA:_ ** _i sent u a screenshot check dms_

**_RS:_ ** _god bless_

**_RS:_ ** _hikaru is my only friend_

**_AT:_ ** _dis bitch_

**_AK:_ ** _disrespect_

**_MN:_ ** _…I am confused, but just remember to go to sleep at a reasonable time, alright?_

**_RS:_ ** _yes mom_

**_AK:_ ** _ok mom_

**_HA:_ ** _ye ma_

**_MN:_ ** _I guess I am a mother of 5 whole thieves now._

**_AT:_ ** _Did makoto just_

**_MN:_ ** _Goodnight._

**_AT:_ ** _ok then_

_~~~_

That night was apparently not a peaceful night for Hikaru, as he woke up in a velvet prison once again. The heir only let out a sigh, sitting up on the kind-of-comfortable prison beds.

“Oh, Hikaru! Welcome!” Elizabeth chirped from over at the table, waving a hand. Hikaru got up, going over to join her at the desk. Theodore seemed to be nowhere in sight, probably doing some things for recon or whatever.

“So…why am I here?” Hikaru asked.

“I wanted to talk to you about your magic.” Elizabeth’s eyes felt like they were staring deep into Hikaru’s soul. Her face was passive, with only the smallest hint of a smile. “You seem to be adapting quite well to it, no?”

“…You mean my Persona?”

“No, I meant your magic. The abilities that leak out into the real world?”

“Yeah? What about them?”

Elizabeth stood up, beckoning Hikaru to follow. She went into one of the small bookshelves within a side cell, pulling out an old book the size of a large dictionary. Flipping open the book showed it to be a catalog of Personas and past users, if the Persona and names were of real people.

“From what I can tell, your magical abilities are very different from previous instances of navigation Personas. Navigation Personas tend to have little to no impact in combat, aside from coordination and information gathering. However, you have the ability to single-handedly change combat in your favor. Do you know why that is?”

“…Why is that? I have no idea, you’re the strange woman with the magic book.” Elizabeth let out a giggle at that.

“Do you know about the main Archetypes? Main ideas of personalities and characteristics that exist within the human subconscious?”

Hikaru did have an idea of what she was saying but was otherwise still confused. He nodded, looking back at the attendant for more information.

“One such archetype would be of the Sage, the image of wisdom, knowledge, and kindness. This usually takes the form of the wise, old man in stories. It is prevalent in almost all cultures, in media, and everywhere else. And from what is documented, the first instance of this came from a text in the medieval era, The Canterbury Tales. Sounds familiar?”

“Isn’t that the story of King Arthur?” The attendant nodded.

“That’s right. The Canterbury Tales tell the story of King Arthur, his Knights of the Round Table, and of Merlin, his magical advisor.”

“So since Merlin represents the core of one of these main archetypes, he is special in that sense?” Hikaru clarified.

“More than special. In the Sea of Souls, Merlin would classify as one of the Old Ones, one of the first few Shadows, and therefore, Personas to exist in the human subconscious. He is also believed to be the origin point of a good majority of navigation Personas, due to Merlin’s role in his original story. Therefore, it only makes sense that his abilities would be stronger than most, no?”

“But what does all this mean? Why tell all of this to me?” Hikaru crossed his arms.

Elizabeth returned the book back into the shelf, going back to the desk in the middle of the room. “I can sense the seeds of doubt in you, Hikaru. That won’t do, at all. Doubt could lead to distortion, you know?”

Hikaru froze for a moment.

He thought back to those moments of self-doubt he had, and how Merlin was the one to reassure him. Did his Persona know about all of this? How did Elizabeth know about all of this, of the fear and doubt he felt?

“Your heart is a fragile one, and no one can blame you for that. However, remember that there are people around you now, and the bonds you will form will alter that.”

Elizabeth was interrupted by the alarm going off with a dull ringing. The attendant looked up, back to her cheerful manner. “Oh, it’s time already! Well, have a great rest!”

~~~

Hikaru woke up in a cold sweat, which contrasted so heavily with how warm he felt. Sitting up and shaking his head, Hikaru sighed, grabbing his phone to check the time. 6:30, the screen read. It was about time to get up.

The heir got up and went to take a shower, feeling disgusting as the sweat ran down his entire back.

But he couldn’t get Elizabeth’s comment out of his mind.

Was he really that easy to read?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little exploration of Hikaru's character at the end. Just prepping him for what's to come.


	20. One Shot, One Kill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hikaru gets a gun.

Hikaru hummed, lost in his thoughts as he let his feet carry him to Leblanc. Akira wanted to spend a day with him, plus Hikaru had to confirm a suspicion for himself. The backstreets of Yongen-Jaya really do give off a comfortable atmosphere, even though he usually had no reason to come here.

He arrived at Café Leblanc, taking a deep breath and entering. The interior seemed to be empty, with the exception of a man behind the counter.

“Welcome-oh, you’re one of Akira’s friends. I think he’s out doing laundry right now, but he should be back soon.” Hikaru nodded his greetings, taking a seat at the counter. The barista, Sojiro Sakura, gave him a service smile. “But what can I getcha?”

“Hey, Boss. I’ll have the house blend.” Sojiro nodded, going to prepare a cup of coffee for the heir. Meanwhile, Hikaru let his eyes roam the café, just to confirm his suspicions. His eyes locked on to a small flashing light behind the huge jars of coffee beans, unnoticeable if you didn’t know what you’re supposed to be finding.

He was right.

“Here you go, one house blend on the house.” Hikaru bowed his head in thanks, taking a sip. The rich aroma of the coffee is brought out so well by the blend, Hikaru couldn’t help but smile.

“Hey, Boss,” the older man turned over from cleaning a plate. “Can I ask why the café is bugged?”

Sojiro’s eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion. “What do you mean?”

“Judging by your reaction, it’s supposed to be there, so I won’t question it. But if you want to take my advice, you might want to hide it better. It’s not obvious, sure, but not exactly well hidden. If my eyes wandered, I might just see it behind those jars. If that’s a camera, then maybe above the shelf or higher up? If it’s just an audio bug, put it under your counter or something, some place where you can’t see it.”

Hikaru took another sip as the door opened, welcoming Akira with a full basket of laundry. The leader perked up at seeing his friend in the café, shaking Morgana off his shoulder. The cat yowled, moving over to sit by Hikaru’s side.

“Give me a sec to put his away, Hikaru, then I’ll come down and we can get going, alright?” Akira said, moving past him to go up the stairs.

“Take your time. I’m in no rush,” the heir called back.

It didn’t take long for Akira to put everything away. He came back down after a few silent minutes, with Hikaru casually stroking Morgana on the head. If he noticed how tense Sojiro was, he didn’t say anything about it.

“Come on, let’s go.”

Hikaru followed Akira with no idea as to where they were actually going. He didn’t ask, just let Akira lead him around. He expected some food, maybe a movie or the arcade, something like that.

What he didn’t expect was for Akira to bring him to Takemi Medical Clinic.

“First off, we need to get medicine for Metaverse explorations. And then we have to do equipment checks, and then maybe we can get lunch or something? From there we’ll just figure something out.”

Hikaru shrugged and followed the black-haired boy into the clinic.

“Oh, guinea pig…and who’s this?” The doctor behind the counter raised an eyebrow at seeing Hikaru with Akira.

“A friend of mine, Takemi-sensei. On other news, how’s that plant that I gave you the other day?”

“What, you mean the cactus? It’s right there.” Takemi nodded her head to the area beside her. She then turned her gaze back to Akira, briefly eyeing Hikaru, who stayed silent throughout the conversation. “So? What are you here for?”

“I need to buy something.”

“…Then let’s head inside.”

Akira opened the door to the examination room, entering with Hikaru in tow. The heir stayed quiet, holding onto Akira’s bag while Takemi laid out what she had in stock for Akira. She once again sent a wary glance at Hikaru, but Akira didn’t seem bothered, so she’ll trust her guinea pig. “What’ll it be?”

“Hey, Hikaru? Come over here.” The heir sauntered over, giving Mona head scratches as he peaked his head out of Akira’s bag. Takemi raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

“Should I get some Takemedic-All Z or Life Ointment?” Hikaru’s eyes ran over the medicine, Merlin automatically considering the Metaverse effects the medicine will have.

“…Get two Life Ointments, two Takemedic-All V, and a Rejuvenating IV. Don’t worry about the price, I’ll cover it.” Akira rolled his eyes, looking back at Takemi. The doctor nodded, going into the back to gather the drugs Hikaru listed out without questions asked. Did she have questions? Of course she did, but she trusted her guinea pig.

“That’s a total of 23,600 yen.” Takemi moved to the counter, Akira and Hikaru leaving the examination room. Hikaru slid a black credit card across the counter, which Takemi hummed at, a small smile on her face. She swiped it and keyed in the total, returning the card once the transaction went through.

“Thanks again, Takemi. I’ll be back some other day, alright?” Takemi nodded at that, going back to reading some kind of magazine. The two boys left the store, now heading over to Shibuya.

“You know, you didn’t have to pay for anything. I could’ve covered it.” Hikaru raised an eyebrow, letting out a small huff with a smile on his face.

“Really now? Even when you’ve spent all that money buying gifts for people?” Akira’s eyes widened.

“How do you know that?”

“You bought a plant for your drug dealer, Akira. If you bought something for someone that distant, you bought something for everyone.”

Akira pouted. Hikaru reached over and flicked his lips with a finger, making the leader squawk with indignation. The train slowed to a stop, and the two Thieves got out at their stop. From there, Akira led Hikaru over to Untouchable, where Iwai barely noted his entrance with a grunt.

He only put down his magazine once Akira approached the counter. “…What’d ya want, kid?”

“I’m here to pawn off some stuff, and maybe buy something.”

“…Alright. Whatcha got?”

Akira opened his bag to pull out some of the treasures that they got from the Metaverse. Hikaru, once again, stayed quiet, letting his mind wander as he watched Akira do Thief business.

“What’s new in stock?” Akira asked. Iwai groaned, getting up to go to the back to get Akira’s stock. He laid out a laminated sheet of paper that contained the gun model and an image, as well as price. Hikaru didn’t interject this time, letting Akira do the purchases for their melee and ranged weapons.

Hikaru’s eyes, however, wandered around the shop, and specifically one gun in particular. He stared up at the sniper rifle put on display behind a case. The display case had a label that read “Arctic Warfare Magnum”, with a price tag of 30,000 yen. It wasn’t too bad, considering the size of the thing and how powerful it looked.

“Hey, Akira?” Hikaru called, catching the attention of both the teen and the shop owner. The heir turned towards his leader, a gleam in his eyes. Akira sighed.

“Aren’t you navigation?” Akira whispered as to not spill anything to Iwai.

“Does that mean I can’t use a gun? Plus, half the time I just watch the fight and call out orders. I can do that while aiming a gun, Akira. Maybe not a close-range weapon, so I don’t run in, but a sniper would work fine, right?” Akira groaned, reaching a hand out. Hikaru laughed, passing his credit card over, eyes excited.

“I don’t know about this, Hikaru…”

“Trust me, it’ll be amazing. Now go pay the kind man.”

Oh, he couldn’t wait.

~~~

And amazing it was. By some miracle, Sky was actually god-tier at shooting. He has yet to miss a shot.

“Queen, behind you!” Queen turned around at the loud bang she heard, seeing a High Pixie take a bullet straight through both its wings. The bullet disrupted its concentration, making the Frei it charged up vanish into nothing. The Shadow let out a high-pitched scream, falling onto the ground dazed. “Thanks, Sky!” the Thief yelled, focusing back on the Orthrus in front of her.

“Joker, two Rakshasas to your left! Knock them with wind attacks!” Joker did as commanded, conjuring two strong gusts of wind to attack the red sword-wielding demons. The Yaksini he was facing let out a roar and charged, but was deterred by a bullet hitting her straight in the left shin, making her fall onto one knee, growling.

“They’re really low! Spray and pray, Panther!” The girl cheered, pulling out her tommy gun to spray down the Shadows around them. Sure enough, all of them dissipated at the bullets that they took as Panther held nothing back, hitting all of them with multiple rounds.

“And that’s that, I guess.” Sky slung the rifle across his back, as everyone stowed their equipment.

“I must say, Sky; your marksmanship is amazing for someone who has never used a gun before,” Queen remarked, followed by nods of agreement.

The navigator turned to the leader, giving him a smug grin. Joker rolled his eyes, entering the code onto the console in front of him. “Alright, let’s take five,” Joker commanded, with nods of agreement.

The Thieves ushered into a safe room to take stock of inventory and to just take a breather. Things seem to be going well for them, if Sky’s map was right. Just one more code and they would be through. The navigator formed a hologram in the middle of the room for everyone to refer, looking at their highlighted route.

“Hey, isn’t that…” Panther muttered, pointing to a separate room from the large vault they were in. In the room, there was a red blip on the radar, once again not moving much.

“That’s…Akechi, ain’t it?” Skull asked, coming over from his spot on the wall.

“Akechi? What is he doing in a Palace?” Queen asked in confusion.

“Oh, we have to catch you up.” Joker gave Queen a rundown of what happened at the TV station, and Hikaru’s warnings. He mentioned Akechi’s slip up, and that they were restricted in how they act.

“Madarame also mentioned something about a black mask infiltrating Palaces. That would most likely be Akechi, I assume,” Fox added.

“So what is the course of action here?”

“For now, nothing changes. There’s no reason for us to approach him unless he is doing something deliberately to stop us from changing hearts.” Joker got up, gathering his things. “Alright, Thieves. One final push, let’s go. Then we can finally go home.”

They exited the safe room, invigorated by their leader’s words. They were all tired and wanted to go home as soon as possible.

“Shadows ahead, not too strong. We’ll have to clean up quickly.” Sky whispered, the group hiding behind various objects around them. Joker lead the charge, silently jumping onto the Shadow’s shoulders, yanking off its mask without a word.

The guard let out a yell, dissolving into two blonde women with purple dresses: Leanan Sidhes. Panther yanked her mask off, fire erupting around them. The two Shadows tried to focus on casting a Psio, but the flames hit first, knocking them out from the heat.

“Charge, Johanna!” Queen shouted, ramming her bike into the Shadows sending them flying into the wall, turning to dust on contact.

“Nice. Alright, the next terminal should be around here somewhere…”

“Over here!” Everybody gathered around Skull, who was looking at the last code they needed to unlock the final vault. GOLD, the label above it read. Sky pulled out the sheets of code, quickly doing the math in his head.

“Try 1841, that should do it.” Entering the code made the ground shake again as the vault shifted outside. The Thieves rushed outside, noting the large elevator in the middle of the room outside. Everyone got in, Sky running enemy scans as they went down. The path down seemed to be open, without any Shadows guarding it at all.

They arrived at the bottom floor, the elevator doors opening to show the shimmering unclear form that they were beginning to associate as an unformed Treasure. Looking around the room, Sky noted the large amount of gold and jewelry lying around everywhere. With some curiosity, he picked up a gold coin, pocketing it.

“Well, with this, I believe that we’re done in terms of infiltration route. Mona?” Joker looked over to their Metaverse expert.

“Yeah, I would say so. There doesn’t seem to be any safe rooms around, so we’ll have to work with the one outside the vault. It is just a straight run in from there, so it should be fine.” Mona responded, eyes eager to see the Treasure’s true form.

“So, all that’s left now is the heist, right?” Queen asked, Joker responding with a nod.

“If we’re done, then we can head out. I think we’re all quite exhausted.” No one complained. The group got back into the elevator heading up back to the vault. But they didn’t expect the Shadow that awaited them at the top.

“Intruders! How did you get here?!” It was much like the guards that they had fought in the security room, but it wore a red outfit, unlike the yellow that those guards wore.

“Gear up, everyone. One last battle, and this one’s strong!” The Shadow roared, melting into a large man, covered head to toe in golden armor. Skull started the attack, trying to get a good smack in, but it bounced off of the armor almost harmlessly. The delinquent jumped back, seeing his attack do nothing.

“That armor is thick. We’re going to need to focus on weak points, or maybe magic attacks. Try an Agilao, Panther!” The girl responded with an affirmative, summoning Carmen to throw large fireballs at the Shadow. The Shadow let out a low grunt but otherwise didn’t seem to take much damage at all, once again.

“You who dare disturb Lord Kaneshiro, perish!” The Shadow bellowed, raising its hand to try and punch Panther. The girl quickly jumped out of the way, retaliating with a few cracks of her whip, which barely did anything.

“How the fuck do we hurt it?!” Panther cried, pulling out her tommy gun. Just as expected, the bullets just bounce off of its armor, barely doing anything.

“Try going behind it, there might be a weak point!”

Queen summoned Johanna, revving the engine. “Joker, get on!”

“Oh, hell yeah!” Joker hopped on, standing on the back. Queen skirted around while the rest acted as a distraction. However, based on what they could see, there didn’t seem to be any soft spot on the back, either. It was still covered by armor everywhere.

Joker ripped his mask off, summoning a Leanan Sidhe, jumping off of the bike. Queen was by his side, charging up an attack of her own.

“Johanna, Freila!”

“Leanan Sidhe, Psio!”

Nuclear energy gathered around the Shadow, while the psychic force kept it still for a clear blast. The outer layer of armor began to peel off due to the radiation, but the Shadow remained silent. Sky noticed this, and an idea began to form.

“I need an opening, just hit it with everything we have!” Skull smirked at that.

“All right, my turn! Seiten Taisei, zap it!” Skull enveloped his mask with the blue flames of his Persona, summoning the monkey lord. Slamming its staff onto the floor, thunder clouds gathered above the beast.

“Here, I’ll help! Zorro, Garula!” Mona summoned his Persona, gathering strong winds around the Shadow. Those winds also gathered the storm clouds, making the attack focused onto one point of the Shadow’s armor. The Shadow roared, feeling his chest armor begin to chip off.

“Fox, follow up! Carmen, heat it up!” Flames roared, dancing along the armor. Much like before, it didn’t seem to affect the Shadow much, but that wasn’t the point.

“Understood! Goemon, Bufula!” Ice immediately covered the heated surface of the armor, weakening the metal’s strength even more.

“Foolish thieves, this is nothing!” The Shadow growled, shaking off the attacks. Joker smirked, running up towards the Shadow. Leaping up, he stabbed his knife into the chunk of ice on its chest, effectively breaking the armor around its chest. However, it was tougher than they thought. The Shadow flung Joker off easily, letting out a cackle as it did. Only a small chunk of its armor broke off, revealing the red cloth underneath, while the rest stayed in its form, albeit weakened.

But that small chunk was all they needed.

“Sky, all you!” Joker yelled, backflipping through the air.

Sky had managed to get onto the top of the rows of vaults, aiming down the sight of his rifle. Behind him was Merlin, with a Critical Strike charged. Slamming his staff, a yellow aura surrounded the navigator, just as his finger squeezed the trigger.

The bullet pierced deep, causing the Shadow to roar, falling onto its knees. Now, with weakened armor, it was open for all of their attacks with no way to retaliate.

“Phantom Thieves, full power!” Sky shouted. The Thieves moved with grace and deadliness, each attack hitting a vital point to the point where there was almost nothing left of the large, golden Shadow.

“Impossible…Lord Kaneshiro…” The Shadow groaned one final time, falling onto its side and vanishing into dust.

“Finally…” Joker groaned, flopping onto his back, right on the floor of the Palace. Sky let out a laugh, leaping down from the vaults to tug at Joker’s leg.

“Let’s go, loser. You’re heavy, and we need to go home.”

“…Carry me, Sky. I think I’m crippled.

“No. Ask Skull.”

The leader turned his head to his best friend.

“Fine, but if I get tired, I’m dropping you.”

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_AK:_ ** _I cant believe that you just dropped me onto the streets of Shibuya like that_

**_RS:_ ** _i told u_

**_AK:_ ** _but still_

**_AK:_ ** _I have no friends_

**_RS:_ ** _drama queen_

**_AK:_ ** _gasp_

**_HA:_ ** _yikes_

**_MN:_ ** _So once we finish infiltration, we send the calling card?_

**_AK:_ ** _ye_

**_AK:_ ** _im going to take a few days to run some errands first, though, and to make sure we’re all properly rested_

**_MN:_ ** _Alright. I’ll trust your experience._

**_MN:_ ** _However, don’t forget that exams are coming up. Remember to study, everyone. I don’t know when Kosei exams are, but they are roughly around the same time, right?_

**_YK:_ ** _That would be correct. They are a week earlier._

**_HA:_ ** _shouldn’t we send the calling card a bit earlier, then? so that yusuke has time to study?_

**_YK:_ ** _You don’t need to be too concerned about it. I can manage my grades well enough._

**_AT:_ ** _oh shit exams are comin_

**_RS:_ ** _oh shit_

**_HA:_ ** _…both of u totally forgot huh_

**_RS:_ ** _ok look here_

**_HA:_ ** _u have no excuse_

**_RS:_ ** _…shit u right_

**_RS:_ ** _help me study?_

**_HA:_ ** _…u owe me fries_

**_RS:_ ** _deal!_

**_AT:_ ** _im coming too! i need help in math…_

**_MN:_ ** _Do you need me to come along, too? I can help as well._

**_AT:_ ** _god bless_

**_AT:_ ** _we can meet tomorrow evening?_

**_AT:_ ** _i have a photoshoot after school_

**_RS:_ ** _sounds good_

**_RS:_ ** _we can get dinner together too_

**_AK:_ ** _i dont know if i can be there, but ill ask boss if u can use leblanc to study_

**_AK:_ ** _i have to go meet with some people_

**_HA:_ ** _thats ok ill just grill u at school_

**_HA:_ ** _not like u really need it or anything_

**_MN:_ ** _Just make sure to keep your grades the same as to not raise suspicion, alright?_

**_MN:_ ** _Yusuke, would you like to join us?_

**_YK:_ ** _Forgive me, but the content I cover in my classes are quite different, due to my arts classes to maintain my scholarship. I don’t think that it will help in my studies, no offense meant._

**_MN:_ ** _None taken. We’ll let you study by yourself, then. But if you have any questions in your other classes, you can come to me, alright?_

**_YK:_ ** _Of course. Thank you._

_~~~_

Ryuji groaned, face planting onto the hardwood table of Leblanc.

Hikaru sighed, hand reaching into the paper bag in his lap. He pulled out another fry, munching on it while he watched Ryuji wallow in mock despair.

“How the hell am I supposed to know what formula this is for?!” Ryuji cursed into the table.

“You’re focusing on the wrong thing. Stop trying to just memorize formulas. Understand why you’re using them. This formula here is for energy transfer, not energy conservation in a system. That’s why you’re messing up on the question.” Hikaru grabbed another fry, watching as Ryuji redid the question with the proper formula, getting the answer the heir did.

“Huh…” Ryuji hummed, trying the next question again, but taking his time to understand the question properly. “Thanks, Hikaru! I know it must be a bit annoying, teachin’ someone as dumb as me…” He refocused on his work, slowly answering the question.

“You’re not dumb, Ryuji. Just need a guiding hand. The fact that you’re doing that question correctly so far proves that.” Ryuji looked up, mouth curling slightly, hesitance all over his face. Hikaru huffed.

“How about this, if you get at least a B in any subject this round, I’ll get you whatever game you want, redeemable any time. Alright?” Ryuji’s eyes lit up at that.

“Really?! Thanks, man!” With newfound determination, the blond got back to work at the worksheet, with his target in mind.

Hikaru took a sip of soda as he kept an eye on Ann next, who was scratching her head in confusion. “Missed a negative sign there, Panther.”

“Oh, that’s why!” Immediately correcting her mistake, she let out a sigh of relief at getting the correct answer. “I was wondering what I did wrong…”

“You just need to not rush. You make just small mistakes that just snowball into a whole different answer. Take your time, you usually finish with plenty of time left over.”

Makoto watched silently as she listened to Hikaru helping the two Shujin second years. It was admirable to see how Hikaru watched for their mistakes, even when he didn’t seem to care much at all. He noted their weaknesses and strengths and gave them personalized help based on that.

“Can I help you, Makoto?” It occurred to her that she was probably staring. Hikaru was looking at her with a raised eyebrow and a funny smirk on his face. She rolled her eyes, shaking her head slightly and looking back at her work. Hikaru hummed, shrugging and grabbing another fry. Damn, this was good.

“By the way, do any of you know where Akira went, or when he’ll be back?” Makoto asked, getting shrugs in return.

“Probably to go talk to some people for information. I assume he should be back quite late, maybe around ten or eleven. He did say that he won’t be joining us, so yeah.” Hikaru looked outside at the rapidly darkening sky. It wasn’t dark yet, far from it. The sun had just begun to set. They had planned to go get dinner after a while as a break, then come back to continue studying.

And yet, here he was, eating fries. Probably a terrible habit. But hey, who could blame him? Big Bang Burger fries were delicious.

“We should go to dinner soon,” Makoto put her pencil down, “I’m getting a bit hungry, and you guys deserve a break.”

“It’s already dark? That was quick…” Ann muttered, looking out into the evening sky. She groaned, dropping her pencil and stretching.

“You all deserve a break, you’ve been at it for quite a while now. About an hour?” Hikaru estimated.

“Then let’s go get some dinner.” The two blondes nodded in agreement, heading out of the café to the beef bowl store in Shibuya. It wasn’t too far away, and they would be back by an hour at most.

“Hey, Hikaru?” Makoto whispered softly, beckoning him over. The heir slipped out of the conversation between the second years, wandering back over to Makoto.

“What’s up?”

“I…just wanted to apologize to you, too. I know I have apologized to everyone about the whole reason we’re infiltrating Kaneshiro’s Palace, but I feel like I need to make it clear to you, too.”

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. Makoto looked away, face flushing slightly.

“I threatened all of you, even though I knew what all of you went through. It wasn’t right of me to do that, even if I had my own circumstances.” Hikaru stayed silent as Makoto said what was in her heart. His face melted into impassiveness.

“…I’m going to be honest with you, Makoto. At that moment in the council room, I felt betrayed.” Makoto lowered her head further. Hikaru didn’t look over, keeping his eyes straight ahead. “I thought you of all people would understand what we had just gone through. You were always so kind to me, after all. Even back on the rooftop a month ago, you left after I asked you to. I trusted you, and you broke that trust by threatening us.”

“…I’m sorry…” Makoto’s voice was quiet, filled with regret.

“But then again, so did I.”

“…What?” She raised her head, eyes slightly wet.

“I broke your trust by lying to you, by becoming one of the Phantom Thieves. I lied to you about the Phantom Thief information in the library that time. I haven’t been honest with you since the start of the year. So, I will apologize too. I’m sorry.” Hikaru gave the student council president a soft smile. “I haven’t told you about my ability, did I?”

“No…Morgana had told me the basics of it and gave a demonstration, but I haven’t tried using mine. What are yours, as a navigation Persona user?”

Hikaru chuckled, reaching his mind out.

 _“This is my power.”_ Makoto jolted as she heard Hikaru’s voice in her head. _“I can hear thoughts, transmit thoughts, and provide surveillance. I can do this from quite far, as we have experimented, and even between the Metaverse and real world.”_

“That’s…amazing!” Makoto gasped out.

“And this is why I know how you felt about all of this, about everything you’re going through. But even through all that, I betrayed your trust. So, once again, I apologize.”

“I…” What was she meant to say here? That it was okay? That she felt conflicted about all of this?

“…Want to call it even?” Hikaru laughed at Makoto’s response.

“Sure thing, Prez.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we have the calling card, I think. Also, I don't have a schedule anymore. I'm just posting whenever I should be doing work but don't want to.


	21. The End of the Mafia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably one of the better boss fights I've written.

“Hey, Hikaru?”

The heir turned to Akira, packing his things up. The glasses-wearing teen was waiting for him at the door. With a nod upwards, he left, while Hikaru took his time to gather his belongings. Once he was done, he bowed once more to Kawakami, who waved a dismissive hand. He then made his way to the rooftop, where Akira was waiting.

“What’s up?” A sense of déjà vu washed over the heir as he opened the door, announcing his presence. Akira nodded as he entered, only speaking when the door was closed.

“I need your help.” Hikaru hummed with an inquisitive tone.

“I think that something’s eating at Mona. He’s been a bit distracted, lately. In the Metaverse, he seems fine, but when we come back, he always seems oddly quiet, even when it is just the both of us. He keeps trying to tell me something, but then just brushes it off as nothing.” Akira’s foot began tapping on the floor, clearly anxious.

“And why me? Wouldn’t Ann be better at consoling him, or at least getting info? You do know about his crush on her, right?” Akira sighed, moving to right in front of the heir.

“The fact that you’re asking that proves my point. You’re observant enough to notice small tells, and that’s what we need with Mona. Plus, Ann’s terrible at acting, she’ll fuck up almost immediately. And then there’s the mind-reading.” Hikaru rolled his eyes.

“I won’t exactly say Mona’s crush is a ‘small tell’, but okay. Also, if you want me to read someone’s mind, just say so next time. However, I don’t think Mona’ll be happy that we know all about his darkest secrets. It’s the same reason why I don’t do detailed background checks on any of you. It’s private for a reason.” Hikaru ran a hand through his hair. “But if you insist, I’ll do it.”

“Just, think about it, alright? I don’t want our team to fall apart because of something like this.” Hikaru left without another word, leaving Akira alone on the roof.

The leader sighed, thinking about what Hikaru had said. What he said was true, and Mona, being such a prideful person, would definitely feel some level of hurt. But, if Morgana was hurting, wouldn’t he be a bad leader for ignoring it?

Akira groaned, tilting his head upwards. Moral decisions are hard.

~~~

“Have we planned exfiltration?” Queen asked, double-checking.

“Yes, but I doubt it will be that easy. Kaneshiro won’t just sit there and let us take his Treasure. We will probably have to fight him, and I doubt it’ll be as easy as the Shadow we took down in the vault.” Glancing at the map, Akechi’s signal wasn’t present. Sky let out a silent sigh of relief at not having to worry about another threat during the final infiltration.

“Alright, then we’re ready. Remember, we’re only here for one thing, and that’s it! Let’s go!” Joker turned around, exiting the safe room with his coattails trailing.

“Phantom Thieves, physical rotation!” Queen, Joker, Fox, and Skull moved to the front at Sky’s command. “Watch for rear attackers!”

“Intruders! Get them!” Right as Sky said it, Shadows appeared behind the Thieves.

“Understood, Sky!” Panther summoned a wall of flames, using Mona’s wind to stoke the fire into a tall barrier. The Shadows stayed back, deterred by the wall of flames.

“Keep going, but watch out. Kaneshiro’s downstairs.” The team tensed. They expected this but hoped for it to not be true. Weapons at the ready, the group immediately took battle positions once they arrived downstairs, into the main Treasure room.

The room itself changed. Where there were gold and riches, now it only contains a large vault, with barely any amount of money where they stood. Kaneshiro himself was standing in front of the vault, two guards by his side.

“Oh, welcome. I was wondering when all of you would get here.” Crossing his arms behind his back, Kaneshiro didn’t seem surprised to see them at all.

“Kaneshiro…I assume that your Treasure is right past you, then?” Queen gripped her brass knuckles harder. “You seem to be in the way.”

“The same could be said for all of you. I worked hard to get into the position I’m in, and now it’s my turn to work those below me to the bone. That is how the hierarchy of this world works,” Kaneshiro shook his head, “though I suppose I can’t expect petty thieves like you to understand that.”

“What did you say?! You’re the corrupted one here, you bastard!” Skull growled out, but otherwise remaining calm. “And we’ll change your heart!”

“And hierarchy? Who the hell are you to decide the order of the world?!” Panther yelled.

“I suppose there is no point in talking to fools who don’t understand their place in this world.” Kaneshiro bent over, and Sky heard something snap. Taking a step back, he summoned Merlin, getting on one knee and pulling out his rifle. Everyone stood at the ready, a hand resting on their melee weapons.

“In this world, it’s eat or be eaten! I’m just following the natural order!” More bones cracking, two humps appearing on Kaneshiro’s upper back. A splat of black blood splashed on the ground from Kaneshiro’s mouth as he began morphing. The two humps ripped through his suit, revealing two translucent wings.

“Now ya shitholes better stay in line! I’m gonna be the one on the top!” The Shadow’s voice turned into a higher pitch, eyes rolling back into his head as what looked like compound eyes replaced them. He began rubbing his hands together, producing a strange buzzing noise that pierced the Thieves’ eardrums, making all of them shudder at the high-pitched noise.

“You’re just a fly on dirty money…I shouldn’t have expected any less. Now get the hell out of my face!” Queen’s mask dissolved, Johanna appearing under her. She immediately rushed forward, summoning nuclear energy that shot from Johanna in a beam towards Kaneshiro.

Kaneshiro flew away from it, laughing. Waving his hands, a strange purple aura began to surround him. Sky clicked his tongue, powering his shot up with Merlin.

“Joker, duck!” The leader dropped onto a crouch as the bullet sailed past his head, hitting Kaneshiro in a wing. The mafia boss growled as he fell out of the sky, glaring straight past everyone at Sky. Snapping his fingers, the magic around him went straight for the sniper.

“Fox!” An ice wall formed in front of Sky, blocking the magic attack. Joker went in for the attack while Kaneshiro was distracted, shooting a few bullets into the boss’ body.

“You useless punks…Eat shit!” A dark aura surrounded Kaneshiro, immediately lashing out at Joker. Joker took the brunt of the magic, but it didn’t hurt him. Looking up at Kaneshiro again, the man seemed larger, more intimidating. The leader took a step back, feeling cold sweat gather at the base of his neck.

“Joker’s feared! Queen, need your help! Panther, provide cover!” Johanna gathered healing energy into Queen’s hands, who rested them on Joker’s temples. Panther pushed Kaneshiro back with an Agilao, fire bursting in streams as Kaneshiro jumped back and forth to avoid taking damage.

“Skull, you’re clear! Mona, help Panther out!” The winds boosted the Fire attack as it rushed towards Kaneshiro, burning him heavily. Immediately after, Seiten Taisei struck him with his pole, sending him flying back to the vault. Kaneshiro let out a pained groan, hands coming together to rub against each other once again.

Sky’s eyes widened. “Mona-” He tried to yell, but it was too late.

The sound that his hands produced was somehow amplified, becoming louder and sharper. All the Thieves fell onto their knees, hands coming to cover their ears. Sky’s head felt like it was about to burst, everything shaking. He didn’t even realize that Kaneshiro was coming straight for him until it was too late.

“So, you’re the one givin’ the orders. You’re annoying.” Sky shouted as he felt the sound right beside his ears burst his eardrums and shake his brain, blood trickling out of his ears. Skull, who was the furthest and the first to recover, immediately tried to get Kaneshiro away from Sky, using a Zio attack to get him to back up. Kaneshiro leaped back with a growl, but a grin grew onto his face. That sound was loud enough to disturb auditory nerves, possibly even severing them altogether.

“Sky, are you alright?!” Queen rushed over, but the navigator was unresponsive, only looking over when Queen tapped his shoulder. Sky had a momentary look of shock, one hand on his right ear. He quickly snapped out of it, however, giving Queen a nod and a thumbs up.

 _“I think he blasted my ears out, but I can still hear all of your thoughts. I’ll coordinate like this, just fight on. We can heal this up later when we get out of here.”_ He received nods from everyone as they received their instructions.

“Now I’ll destroy the rest of you losers with my ultimate weapon!” The vault behind him opened, revealing a large, metal pig. Kaneshiro jumped in, controlling the pig from inside. “This is my defensive mechanoid, Piggytron! You ready to die, you shitty thieves?!”

_“Everyone! Rockets on the sides, gatling guns on the eyes, speakers from the ears! Keep an eye out!”_

“Same plan! Panther, cook him alive!” Joker took on the field commands, while Sky stayed at the back, providing support where he could. Flames spread throughout the entirety of the pig mech, heating the surface heavily. But Kaneshiro didn’t seem disturbed, if the laughter echoing through the room meant anything.

“Piggytron, gun them down!” The pig’s eyes flipped into gatling guns, pointed at Joker and Panther.

_“Joker, switch to Shiki-Ouji! Fox, get a speed buff on Panther!”_

Joker switched Personas, rendering the gunshots ineffective as the paper demon blocked it entirely. Panther moved nimbly as a green aura surrounded her, making her more agile than before. She easily dodged out of the way, knocking the ones she can’t dodge back with her whip.

“What the fuck?! Piggytron, double power!” Another set of guns appeared beside the eyes.

The guns fired, shooting at all of the Thieves. It was impossible to dodge all of the bullets cleanly, so most of them suffered minor scratches, to clean shots in Fox’s abdomen, Skull’s shoulder, and Panther’s back. Sky, realizing that they had to get cover somehow, closed his eyes, channeling Merlin’s power.

 _“Everyone, group up!”_ A barrier was erected around everyone, reflecting the bullets back towards the guns, destroying them.

The barrier was let down once all the guns were destroyed, and the Thieves wasted no time in trying to break the mech from the inside. Skull and Mona once again tried to use the combo they used on the golden Shadow a few days ago, but the electricity just flowed right off of the mech. Using Psychic attacks, Joker attempted to bend the metal from the inside, but it didn’t seem to do much, either.

“How the hell are we supposed to kill this thing?!” Skull shouted in frustration, getting another scratch by a stray bullet.

Sky cursed to himself, summoning Merlin once again. A screen appeared over his eyes, highlighting weak points and threats all over the mech. There were the speakers that could transmit that buzzing noise, the rockets that have yet to be used, and the now destroyed gatling guns. But what was that energy gathering inside the mech?

“Let’s see how you rats like this!” The speakers around its ears opened up.

_“Fox, seal everyone’s ears!”_

Ice began gathering in everyone’s ears, muffling the piercing sound. Queen took the chance to blast the speakers off with nuclear magic, knocking off another weapon in Kaneshiro’s arsenal. Just in time, as the ice began to melt due to their normal body temperatures.

“You little shits…” Kaneshiro growled, getting out and on top of the mech. “Let’s see how you like this! Piggytron, Super VIP Mode!”

The pig mech’s legs and nose retracted, turning into a perfect sphere. Kaneshiro then began to roll it on the spot, gaining speed. Sky, however, took advantage of it.

_“He’s outside! Panther, light it on fire to knock him off!”_

“Don’t need to say that twice!” Flames burst from Carmen’s hands, coating the entire mech in flame, and knocking Kaneshiro off balance and onto the ground in front of the mech. With no one to keep it in place, the Piggytron began rolling forward, running over Kaneshiro himself. The Palace ruler let out a groan, struggling to get to his knees. Waving his hands, the Piggytron sucked him back inside, limbs reappearing.

“That was a nasty trick! But I ain’t stupid enough to fall for it again!” Rocket launchers appeared from the sides, launching a rocket locked onto each of the Thieves. Each struck their rocket with their elements before it even came close, with the exception of Sky with a bullet.

“Try again, losers!” He fired another rocket, and another, and another. Kaneshiro was releasing a huge amount of rockets, all scattering throughout the massive room. Sky then saw the opportunity that was there.

_“Redirect the rockets to the mech!”_

The Thieves each carried their rocket trails, some going behind and some going straight forward. With nowhere to run, Kaneshiro couldn’t do anything but take multiple explosions straight in the face, damaging the mech heavily and blowing it up.

The mech crashed onto the ground, barely stable enough to stand. It began tilting over, dropping Kaneshiro out of the mech and onto the ground, shimmering back into the Shadow Kaneshiro before the battle. He let out a grunt, a pained expression on his face.

“I can’t believe…” Kaneshiro slowly stumbled onto his feet. His face immediately twisted. “…you fell for that. I’d rather die than let you have my money!”

The energy readings within the Piggytron rose off the charts. Sky’s eyes widened, realizing that it was a self-destruct sequence. Dropping onto his knees, the navigator immediately called his Persona forth, forming a barrier that protected both Kaneshiro and the Thieves.

The mech exploded, shaking the entire bank. Sky struggled to stay upright as he felt the pressure from outside try to break the barrier. Pieces of shrapnel and gold bounced off the barrier, and chunks of electronics shattered against the metal walls. A particularly large piece landed right on the barrier, making Sky stumble.

“Relax, Sky. I can handle this.” Ice began to form around them, forming a dome that bloomed open, pushing away any pieces of rubble that might have fallen on them should Sky’s barrier fall.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Kaneshiro scrambled back, grabbing as much of the gold around him as he can. “My money, all mine!”

While the others grilled Kaneshiro, Mona approached Sky, who was barely standing. “You alright?”

_“Do I look alright, Mona? I’m bleeding from so many scratches, I’m deaf, and my mind is on overclock from using two barriers in one fight, not to mention the sheer size of them. I have no idea how I haven’t passed out yet.”_

“Okay, geez. You’re at least alright enough to be sarcastic.” Mona charged a Diarama in his hands, reaching over to touch Sky’s ears. The navigator gasped as he felt his ears pop, his hearing restored. Kaneshiro’s pleading tone, Queen and Skull’s angry yells, Joker’s cool voice. Sky sighed, closing his eyes, a small smile on his face.

“We’ll fix all the scratches and everything later, alright? They’re info gathering as much as they can right now, and I have a feeling that you should listen. Skull’s interrogation isn’t exactly what I call reliable.” Mona gave him a little cat smile, which Sky returned, patting him gently on the head.

“I think Joker has it handled, but thanks, Mona. You’re the best.” The cat let out a soft meow, smile widening.

“…These Palaces could net you loads of cash, you know,” Kaneshiro muttered, as he began returning to his real self. “But I know you won’t, you naïve fools.”

“We’re not like you, Kaneshiro.” Joker’s crimson eyes locked onto Kaneshiro’s golden ones. The Palace ruler let out a scoff, rolling his eyes.

“You know, I’ll let you in on a little something. There’s someone out there taking full advantage of Palaces, doing whatever they want. Mental shutdowns, psychotic breakdowns, they don’t care at all.” Joker raised an eyebrow, hands slipping into his pockets.

“I’ll assume he wears a black mask?” Kaneshiro seemed shocked for a moment, then laughed.

“Of course you know. You have quite the info resource, after all.” He gave a side glance to Sky. “Then you should know how strong he is, too…”

Kaneshiro vanished with those ominous words, returning to his true self, leaving the gold bars behind him.

“Uhh, time to get out!” Mona transformed, while Joker, Fox, and Skull piled in as gold bars that they could into the car. Sky took the wheel, yelling commands. “Joker, Fox, front seat!”

“Got it!”

Flooring the pedal, the Thieves rushed through the winding hallways of the bank, the car skidding as Sky turned sharp corners. However, it seemed that the entrance was about to collapse. “Wait, Sky!” Queen tried to yell but was interrupted by Sky himself.

“Joker, Fox, freeze the entranceway!” Bursts of ice erupted from their hands, encasing the entire path with ice. However, it didn’t seem like the ice would hold for long, as cracks began to form already. But Sky didn’t slow down at all. In fact, he somehow impossibly managed to go even faster.

The Thieves managed to get past it right as the ice collapsed. Everyone let out a sigh of relief, but Sky didn’t stop.

“We’re not out yet! We need a road down to Shibuya!” Joker and Fox nodded, once again allowing their powers to freeze the area in front of them. As they went down the slope, it took both of their ice abilities to make sure that the road was made quick enough that they had stable ground, while the path behind them began to collapse as the Palace crumbled into nothingness.

~~~

“That escape went quite smoothly, I would say. Much better than Madarame’s,” Yusuke remarked, a content smile on his face.

“Maybe because Hikaru was actually awake for it,” Akira joked, making said teen roll his eyes.

“I know, you’re all sitting ducks without me.”

“The Treasure?” Makoto asked to confirm. Hikaru lifted the golden briefcase in response, a grin on his face. Morgana let out a meow of victory, lying across Hikaru’s shoulder. He rested his paws on the boy’s neck, a soft healing pulse emanating from it. Hikaru let out a sigh of relief, feeling his injuries close themselves.

“We should pop it open!” The cat suggested.

“Not here. Let’s go somewhere else. Opening it here is just screaming for attention,” Makoto advised.

“Ooh, can we go to Leblanc?” Hikaru stiffened at Ryuji’s suggestion. However, they have already revealed their identities. If the person behind the bugs wanted to report them, they had an ample amount of time, as well as evidence to do so. Maybe he was worrying about nothing.

“I am in the mood for some coffee,” Yusuke said, imagining a cup of coffee made by Akira.

“I don’t mind but watch out for Sojiro. I think he’s still busy with the café.” Everyone seemed to ignore Akira’s warning, deciding for themselves that Leblanc was their destination. The leader sighed, not hiding the smile on his face at all. “Why does no one ever listen to me?”

“You totally love it, you tsundere,” Hikaru muttered under his breath. Akira flicked his head, making the heir let out a strangled noise, pulling his head away as far as it could go without moving his body.

“Alright, you’re good. Akira, your turn.” Morgana leaped into Akira’s bag, paws on his wrist. Once again, Morgana’s paws glowed with healing magic, touching up the slight wounds that they suffered from in the Metaverse.

“You know I can heal myself, right Mona? I appreciate it, but I’m fine. Save your energy for those who can’t heal themselves.” Mona swatted at him with his paw, but finished the healing before going back over to Hikaru.

“Hikaru, give me back my cat.”

“No, my cat now. He likes me better.”

“Not a cat!”

“Okay, my human…That sounds weird. But he didn’t deny that he liked me better.”

~~~

As he entered the café, Hikaru noted that the bug he noticed that day was gone. Sojiro wasn’t in at the moment, so he decided not to go looking for it.

“Alright,” Akira began, taking a seat by the table, “Let’s see it.”

“Yeah, yeah! Pop it open!” Morgana cheered.

“The briefcase is combination locked…” Yusuke groaned, moving to sit beside Akira and laying the Treasure on the table. “And I doubt that it will be as easy as 0000.”

“It isn’t. Move over,” Makoto leaned over and put the number 0709. The briefcase popped open with a satisfied grin from the student council president. Yusuke looked up in shock.

“How…?”

“I saw him open the case multiple times, back in the club. Hikaru was getting tied up and sat away from him, so I don’t think he saw.” Looking over at the heir, Hikaru confirmed it.

“Whatever, let’s pop the thing open!” Ryuji flipped the lid up and immediately froze at the amount of money be saw. “W-woah…”

Hikaru let out an impressed whistle, reaching to take out a stack. “That’s a million in one stack, and a hundred stacks…” Looking more closely, Hikaru snorted.

“That’s a hundred million yen…” Akira’s hands were trembling.

“Holy shit…That’s…a lot of money…” Ryuji stammered out, jaw still dropped.

“Even if we split it within seven, it’s still fourteen million per person…” Makoto calculated.

“Sorry, but is this real money?” Yusuke pulled out a 10000-yen bill from the stack.

“What do you mean?” Snatching the bill from Yusuke’s hands, Ann looked over it herself, face contorting in surprise. “Children’s Bank?!”

“Aww man…” Ryuji faceplanted onto the table in disappointment. “So we can’t even use any of this shit?”

“But I would say that briefcase is looking mighty expensive. Maybe enough to fetch a nice price, wouldn’t you say?” Hikaru placed the stack on the table, dumping out all the stacks in the briefcase. The interior was a nice satin, with a gold coating outside.

“I’ll go sell it off. I think we can get about fifty thousand?” Akira estimated.

“Fifty sounds fine. But on the other hand, what about our party? Are we doing the buffet again?” Hikaru lied down on Akira’s bed, Morgana coming over to lie on top of him.

“No, we should be laying low. And need I remind you all, exams are coming?” Ann and Ryuji deflated at that.

“How about after exams? We can celebrate then, plus summer holidays are coming up. Maybe a festival or something, if there’s one nearby?” Akira suggested. Makoto thought about it, but couldn’t find any cons to it. If anything, it serves as a motivator for what’s to come.

“Anything come back to you, Mona?” Hikaru whispered softly, while the others got excited about the festival.

“…Not really. I still don’t remember anything…”

Hikaru reached a hand up, patting Morgana gently.

“That’s fine. No matter what, we’ll still love you, alright? You’re a crucial part of the Phantom Thieves,” The cat froze under the heir’s palm. Hikaru hummed softly, closing his eyes and letting Morgana’s thoughts run through his head.

_I don’t belong here…I don’t even know what I am. What if I’m some kind of monster? You’re kind, Hikaru, but you’re wrong. The Thieves don’t need me, especially with you and Makoto around. I’ll just be in the way._

Hikaru huffed, eyes slowly opening.

The other Thieves seemed to be distracted with Ryuji and Ann, who were complaining about exams and getting some studying in. Akira was downstairs making coffee, leaving Makoto and Yusuke to try and help them.

“Did Hikaru fall asleep?” Ann looked over to where the heir was laying silently, one hand resting on Morgana’s back. She gasped at the sight. “That’s so cute, he’s cuddling with Mona.”

“Nah, I’m awake. What do you need?” She jumped at Hikaru’s voice. The teen turned his head over to look at Ann, a grin on his face.

“Well, if you’re awake, can you come over here for a sec?” Hikaru looked at her, then to the cat on top of him, then back at her again, with a deadpan expression. Ann groaned, waving him off. “Fine, I’ll ask Akira.”

“I can tell your mistakes from here. If it’s math, you messed up the math somewhere, not the formulas. If it’s science, then ask Makoto. She’s right there, Ann. She can literally hear you.”

“Hear what?” Makoto turned from where she was helping Ryuji.

“Help Ann, she’s dismaying over math or science, one of them. I’m comfortable, so I don’t want to go over there.”

“Let me see.” Makoto grabbed Ann’s worksheet, scanning her work to spot any mistakes. “You’re right, Hikaru. You added the 3x twice here, so your numbers are wrong.”

“How the hell…” She gave Hikaru a confused look. The heir shrugged, pulling up a close-up screen of Ann’s work.

“Also, it's 2x. You copied the question wrong.”

“…Fuck.”

~~~

_“Hey, Akira?”_

_Yeah, what’s up?_

_“I’ve got your answer for you.”_

_For what?_

_“Mona.”_

_So?_

_“He’s worried about his place in the group.”_

_Why? I would say he’s one of the more important people than anything._

_“He doesn’t think so. You mentioned how he provided navigation before, right?”_

_Yeah. When we first started, he was the one who helped us based just on pure instinct and experience. He was our tactician and navigator, since Ryuji, Ann, and I had no idea how to do the whole ‘change of heart’ thing._

_“He believes that with Makoto and I part of the Thieves now, his role is basically obsolete. Every day I learn more things about the Metaverse due to Merlin’s ability, so Mona believes that at this point, I know more things than he does. In combat, his role is sort of overshadowed by me and Makoto. Have you noticed he doesn’t say much in terms of strategy anymore?”_

_…I see. That makes sense._

_“I’ve been trying to reassure him that he’s still wanted, that he still matters. Because it’s true. Without Morgana, our magic strength wouldn’t be as good as it is, even with you and Makoto. Not to mention his incredible healing.”_

_He’s one of the founding members of the Thieves. He matters the most, I would say._

_“Part of all of this is his memories as well.”_

_Did something come back?_

_“The opposite. Because nothing came back, he’s wondering if what he knows is even real anymore. Was he a human? Was he a Shadow? He’s terrified of himself and doesn’t want to hurt us._

_…I’ll see what I can do. We still have a bit less than a week on Kaneshiro’s threat, so that’s plenty of free time. I might need your help again, but it should be fine. If anything extreme happens, I’ll tell you._

_“Just remember that Morgana’s feeling vulnerable. Watch what you say, and definitely watch his body language.”_

_Yeah, I got you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be honest, do you guys think I'm a guy or a girl? I know that most people in fandoms are usually girls, maybe a few guys here and there, so I'm curious. Do I seem like a guy or a girl?
> 
> PS: I'm a dude, by the way.


	22. Midterms And An Announcement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fireworks and midterms.

Kaneshiro’s change of heart came out of nowhere. A sudden message to Makoto and Hikaru, telling them their debt was canceled. And the next day, news reports of the mafia boss turning himself in, no strange confession with the press like Madarame did.

“Well, we did it. At least we’re all fine,” Akira had said during their study session the night after Kaneshiro was arrested. “That’s one less thing to worry about.”

“Definitely. I almost cried in relief when I got Kaneshiro’s text,” Makoto added on, letting out a deep breath.

“The anticipation after the change of heart is always the most grueling,” Yusuke commented. “I definitely remember the feeling after changing Madarame’s heart.”

Hikaru stayed silent. He knew that Leblanc was bugged, and he doubted that Sojiro didn’t know it was there. The fact that it wasn’t where it used to be meant that it was moved, most likely by Sojiro himself or whoever planted it there. He would warn everyone, but at this point, it was too late. Whoever was on the other side has definitely heard enough.

“Hey, Hikaru?” Ryuji’s voice snapped Hikaru out of his thoughts.

“Yeah?” The heir responded, half paying attention.

“Can you go over taxonomy again with me? I still don’t get it…” Hikaru leaned over, temporarily distracted as he tried to teach Ryuji the basics of taxonomy and binomial nomenclature once again, rolling his eyes while he did it.

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_MN:_ ** _Everyone, good luck on exams!_

**_RS:_ ** _god im gonna need it_

**_HA:_ ** _you studied quite a lot for this_

**_HA:_ ** _youll probably do fine_

**_RS:_ ** _you say that_

**_HA:_ ** _just remember what I told u and ull be fine_

**_AT:_ ** _we have math today right_

**_AT:_ ** _god im terrified_

**_HA:_ ** _same thing as ryuji_

**_MN:_ ** _Remember, once the exams are over, we will be going to the fireworks festival in Shibuya. Use it as a motivator, alright?_

**_RS:_ ** _it might be more distraction than motivation but yea_

**_MN:_ ** _…Well, at least you’re honest about it._

**_AK:_ ** _it shouldn’t be that bad_

**_AT:_ ** _you have a cat that tells you answers you’re not allowed to talk_

**_AK:_ ** _okay ouch_

**_HA:_ ** _give ryuji the answer cat_

**_AK:_ ** _the answer cat says no_

**_AK:_ ** _also not a cat_

**_HA:_ ** _how bout this_

**_HA:_ ** _to make it fair, give me the answer cat_

**_HA:_ ** _then we can see how smart you are without the cat_

**_AT:_ ** _agreed!_

**_MN:_ ** _It is not good to cheat in a test, not to mention it doesn’t help your learning at all._

**_RS:_ ** _yea dude_

**_AK:_ ** _is no one on my side_

**_AK:_ ** _its my cat_

**_AK:_ ** _where’s yusuke when u need him_

**_YK:_ ** _Painting._

**_AK:_ ** _shit_

**_HA:_ ** _what does mona say_

**_HA:_ ** _bet you he says yes_

**_AK:_ ** _fuck my cat loves hikaru more than me_

**_HA:_ ** _damn straight_

**_AK:_ ** _this is so sad_

**_RS:_ ** _f_

**_AT:_ ** _f_

**_HA:_ ** _f_

**_MN:_ ** _F._

**_AK:_ ** _even makoto_

**_MN:_ ** _Yes. Exams are starting, so see all of you later._

**_AT:_ ** _good luck everyone!_

**_RS:_ ** _god damn_

_~~~_

Hikaru reached a hand down, stroking Morgana as his eyes scanned over his test paper. He had already finished with half an hour to spare, so he decided to look over his answers to make sure he didn’t make any careless mistakes. The cat barely made any noise while in Hikaru’s desk, only a soft purring whenever the navigator reached a hand to stroke the cat.

Hikaru flipped over the last page, eyes closing once he finished scanning the last question for mistakes. He was tired as all hell, and maybe it was a good time to take a nap. The teachers usually didn’t stop him, since he always finished early. He slipped a glance to Ms. Usami, who rolled her eyes when she made eye contact.

“Already?” She mouthed silently, and Hikaru nodded. The teacher gave a sigh and shrugged, waving dismissively. Hikaru grinned, taking it as permission to do what he wanted, lying his head on the table. He could hear Mona’s soft purring from the table and decided that a mental conversation was fine.

 _“Are you alright, Mona?”_ The cat licked his fingers.

_I’m fine, Hikaru. If anything, the lack of Akira’s grumbling and muttering is nice._

Hikaru let out a soft huff. He supposed that now was a better time than any to get answers.

_“That’s great, but not what I meant. You’ve been kinda quiet lately, so what’s eating at you?”_

The cat went silent for a moment, and Hikaru let him think. It was a loaded question, so he didn’t expect Morgana to spill everything.

_Hey, do you think I’m human?_

Hikaru sighed, picking up his pencil to spin in his hand. _“If you want my honest answer…no, not really.”_

_…Yeah, I thought so._

_“But you know what? It doesn’t matter as much as you think it does.”_ Morgana peeked his head out of the desk, sapphire eyes looking at Hikaru’s velvet blue eyes.

_What do you mean?_

_“If you turn out to not be human, it doesn’t change what we have to do. Human or no, you still have missing memories, and we’ll help you regain those. We agreed on that, remember?”_ Hikaru gave Morgana a smile, scratching him behind the ears.

_But what if I’m some kind of monster, born from the depths of Mementos? Wouldn’t finding my memories be bad, then?_

_“Are you okay living your life without knowing?”_ Morgana froze, looking wide-eyed at Hikaru. The heir lost his smile, looking at him with a serious expression. _“Even if it meant never knowing the truth?”_

_…If it meant keeping you all safe, yes._

Morgana let out a yowl as Hikaru flicked his ear.

_“Who are you to decide what we do?”_

Hikaru scratched the ear gently, a gentle smile on his face. _“I would say we’re more than equipped to defend ourselves, no?”_

_Hikaru…_

Morgana stared at him in shock.

 _“We’re doing this out of our own choice. At least, I know I am. But I’m pretty sure none of us are being forced here. You don’t have to act all self-righteous, you know.”_ His thoughts were interrupted by Ms. Usami, calling everyone to hand in their papers.

 _“Just think about what I said, alright Mona?”_ The cat stayed silent, going deeper into the desk. Hikaru sighed, passing his test forward to be collected. He then turned over to Akira, shaking his head. The leader let out a breath.

~~~

“I actually feel quite good about this time!” Ryuji yelled in excitement as the group met in Shibuya’s underground mall. “I might not get straight Ds!”

“Nice to hear. I hope everyone did well.” Makoto brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I don’t know about science, but I’m feeling quite good about math!” Ann cheered, munching on her crepe that she called her celebratory treat.

“The fireworks festival is on the 18th, so we can meet again then. Until then, just enjoy yourselves. We all did good, so look forward to it,” Akira grinned. He turned to Hikaru, who was scrolling on his phone. “Any possible new targets?”

“I told you last time, didn’t I? Targets aren’t an issue, it’s just which one you want. The world’s filled with corrupt people.” Hikaru sighed, pocketing his phone. He reached into his bag, pulling out a few sheets of paper stapled together, and handed it over to Akira. “Take a look, choose for yourself.”

Ryuji leaned over to take a look, and almost choked at the large, collated list of targets in alphabetical order, with all their keywords listed out. “When the hell did you have time to do this?!”

“Do you forget that I don’t have to study as much as all of you? Exam weeks give me plenty of time, especially since there isn’t any assigned homework at all for the weeks leading up to the exams. I just got on the Nav and played around, throwing words here and there and referring to their speeches to get an idea.” All the Thieves stared at their navigator in shock. Hikaru just gave Akira a glance, a smirk on his face.

“Just let me know which one you want us to go for, and I’ll ask Merlin for a scan.”

“These are some big names on the list…” Makoto muttered, scanning over the large list. “Most of these people are either CEOs, politicians, or high-ranking officials…”

“Well, why don’t we go for the top ones first?! That’ll definitely leave an impact! Our popularity will skyrocket!” Ryuji exclaimed, just a bit too loudly. Yusuke shushed him, giving him a glare.

“It makes sense, though. Wouldn’t we want to make sure everyone knows who we are?” Ann muttered. Hikaru felt a sense of unease, as the discussion continued about which target they will choose. It seemed that Yusuke also felt it, if the way he was glancing at Hikaru meant anything.

A buzzing noise interrupted the conversation, coming from the heir’s phone. He pulled it out and answered the call, eyebrows raised slightly.

“Hello? …Something’s wrong at home? Isn’t my father there? …Got it. I’ll be outside in a moment.”

Hikaru groaned, ending the call and facing the team with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, everyone, something happened at home, and I need to be there.”

“Oh, it’s fine! We’ll look at the list and come to a decision, alright?” said Ann, Hikaru hesitating for a moment but finally nodding.

“I’ll leave the list with you, Akira. When you’re picking a target, just remember why we’re doing all this.” That certainly caught everyone off guard. Not the leaving the sheet with Akira, no, but the reason they’re doing this. Ryuji and Ann made strange noises of confusion, and Yusuke raised an eyebrow. Akira and Makoto looked at each other, nodding silently. Hikaru said nothing else, turning away and leaving the station.

“That was…weird,” Ryuji muttered after a short while. Hikaru was his friend, sure, but sometimes he did weird things that Ryuji couldn’t explain. It wasn’t like this with Akira or Ann or anyone else, so what’s wrong with Hikaru?

“I’ll read through everything and do some research on my own. I’ll send a scan of this in the group chat so everyone can take a look and do research on the ones that catch your eye. We’ll meet up again after the festival.” Everyone nodded at Akira’s command and dispersed for the afternoon.

~~~

**_PM: AK - > HA_ **

**_AK:_ ** _So you noticed as well_

**_AK:_ ** _How everyone was kind of getting obsessed with fame_

**_HA:_ ** _Its unsettling to say the least_

**_HA:_ ** _I think yusuke also felt kind of unsure about everything_

**_AK:_ ** _I know makoto certainly was_

**_AK:_ ** _I didn’t want to ruin the mood so I didn’t say anything to ann and ryuji_

**_HA:_ ** _Just keep an eye on them_

**_HA:_ ** _I feel like everything’s going too fast, and it’ll blow up in our faces if we’re not careful_

**_HA:_ ** _At this point its better safe than sorry_

**_AK:_ ** _wait gimme a sec_

_~~~_

**_AK added HA and MN to a group!_ **

**_AK has changed the group name to ‘The Adults’._ **

**_HA:_ ** _do I look like an adult to you_

**_HA:_ ** _I barely know what im doing_

**_MN:_ ** _What is this?_

**_AK:_ ** _the serious PT leader groupchat_

**_AK:_ ** _you are all replacement leaders if im gone, so welcome_

**_AK:_ ** _Hikaru and I were talking about what happened earlier in the afternoon_

**_MN:_ ** _You mean at the station?_

**_AK:_ ** _ye_

**_AK:_ ** _I thought you should be involved as well, as our advisor_

**_MN:_ ** _Alright. So, what have you discussed?_

**_HA:_ ** _I was just talking about how volatile this all seemed_

**_HA:_ ** _one wrong move and we’re fucked_

**_AK:_ ** _I agree_

**_MN:_ ** _I personally think we should wait a bit before deciding a target._

**_MN:_ ** _You mentioned that the Phantom Thieves were threatened in other cases, yes?_

**_HA:_ ** _yep_

**_AK:_ ** _kamoshida was threatening to expel me ryuji and mishima_

**_AK:_ ** _madarame wanted to call the cops on us, and yusuke was in a tight spot_

**_AK:_ ** _and then you know about kaneshiro_

**_HA:_ ** _in all these cases, we knew our target had a palace before, but weren’t pressured into stealing their heart until after we were threatened_

**_MN:_ ** _Then we definitely shouldn’t rush this._

**_MN:_ ** _We are most likely under watch due to Kamoshida being the first case. After Kaneshiro confesses, the authorities will definitely revisit Shujin._

**_HA:_ ** _plus there’s the whole issue of akechi in palaces_

**_AK:_ ** _what about it?_

**_HA:_ ** _so far we have no idea about what akechi is capable of, as well as what he’s doing in palaces_

**_HA:_ ** _my guess is that all those mental shutdown cases? I hate to say it, but I think it might be him_

**_HA:_ ** _that’s the only reason why he would be in palaces for so long, and why hes so powerful_

**_HA:_ ** _he would be trying to locate the shadow, and eliminate them to induce a shutdown_

**_MN:_ ** _That’s terrible!_

**_HA:_ ** _but as of right now, we can’t stop him, not without preparing carefully_

**_AK:_ ** _hate to say it, but Hikaru’s right_

**_AK:_ ** _I want to help others as much as I can, but its not the answer here_

**_AK:_ ** _even with my wild card ability, its going to be hard to take down akechi, who’s been going into palaces alone for so long_

**_MN:_ ** _I’m not as experienced as all of you, so I’ll take your word for it._

**_MN:_ ** _We will have to eventually cross paths with Akechi, however._

**_HA:_ ** _oh most definitely_

**_HA:_ ** _we cant let him keep doing this for as long as he wants_

**_MN:_ ** _Let’s get back on topic. What are we going to do for now?_

**_AK:_ ** _I guess just chill? at least until after the festival_

**_AK:_ ** _we deserve a break, we just saved a whole lot of people_

**_MN:_ ** _That’s fair. I guess we’ll continue this some other time._

_~~~_

Hikaru hummed, slipping on a black graphic tee along with a red cotton shirt outside. It was thin enough to wear as an outer layer in summer but thick enough to provide some warmth should it be cold, which was unlikely. Apparently, Ann had said that he “wore hoodies too often, wear something else for the festival!” Hikaru agreed, of course, and it was too warm to wear hoodies anyway. Especially if it was going to be crowded, and he knows it will be. Putting on some skinny jeans and rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, the heir grabbed his phone, prepared to leave.

“ _Take an umbrella,”_ Merlin warned right before he left. Hikaru paused, realizing his Persona probably had good advice and grabbed a small foldable umbrella on the table by the door before leaving. He slipped it into a pocket, feeling the soft hum of approval of Merlin in his mind. Slipping on his earphones, he blasted some music while he made his way to the station.

He sang softly under his breath as he walked to Akihabara Station. Hikaru wouldn’t exactly say his singing voice is nice, but it wasn’t exactly bad, to be fair. More than anything, Hikaru was self-conscious of it, so he rarely sang to anyone but himself. The train ride was silent, getting especially crowded around Shibuya. He had to squeeze through a crowd to even get out on his station.

Hikaru looked around the station, noticing that no one seemed to be in their usual meeting spot. Was he the first one here? He leaned against a pillar, pulling out his phone to scroll through social media.

“Hey, Hikaru!” The blond’s voice was loud, loud enough to hear through Hikaru’s earphones. The brunet barely stifled a snort, turning over to see Ryuji run up to him, dressed in his normal summer outfit. He came to a stop at seeing what the heir was wearing, a small smile blossoming on his face.

“Yo, this outfit suits you really well, dude. Ann did a good job,” Ryuji remarked, Hikaru rolling his eyes.

“Ann had no part in this, she just wanted me to change what I wear.”

“You mean she didn’t drag you to go shopping with her because she didn’t trust your sense of fashion?”

“No, because she knows I have a sense of fashion, unlike someone I know,” Ryuji let out an indignant ‘hey’, “I just prioritize comfort over anything else, so hoodies it is.”

Ryuji grumbled under his breath, Hikaru laughing and ruffling Ryuji’s hair. The delinquent shrugged it off, pouting at the heir. Hikaru ignored it, a large grin on his face. “For what it’s worth, I think your fashion sense isn’t too bad.”

“Really?”

The two teens turned to see Akira approach them, an amused look on his face. Hikaru made a noise, looking away, but not hiding the grin on his face.

“You said it, not me.”

“Hey, stop ganging up on me!”

“Oh, my. What’s happening here?” Yusuke was the next to arrive, dressed in a navy-blue yukata with a golden sash. He barely hid his small smile, instead nodding at the boys as he arrived. “Are the girls not here yet?”

“No, we’ve just got here. They’ll probably take a bit longer than us since Ann wanted to make sure Makoto looked fine in her kimono.” Akira looked around, and still no sign of Ann or Makoto.

“Oh, are all of you heading to the fireworks festival as well?” An unfamiliar voice chirped. The boys turned to see two girls around their age approach them. One of them had a pink kimono, while the other wore a black one. They immediately latched onto Yusuke and Akira, batting their eyelashes. Ryuji glared at them with envy, while Hikaru remained unbothered.

“We’re waiting for friends,” Yusuke replied, oblivious to the girls’ intentions.

“Aww, why don’t you ditch them and come with us?” The girl in black said. “By the way, you look great in that yukata.”

“You can come too, hottie!” The other girl winked at Hikaru, but the heir didn’t notice. Or, well, didn’t care. He was on his phone, blatantly ignoring what was happening. The girl seemed to deflate at her efforts being ignored.

“Yo, what the hell! Let’s just ditch the girls and go with them!” Ryuji whispered, which Akira looked hesitant to agree on. Fortunately, Yusuke seemed to make the decision for them.

“That’s enough.” The girls turned their attention back to him. “You’re disgracing the essence of your kimonos. You should be more aware of your womanhood,” Yusuke scolded, eyebrows knitted.

The girls looked at each other, then rolled their eyes. “Whatever, weirdo.” They left the boys, with Ryuji making a strange whimpering noise.

“Dude!” Ryuji growled, turning to glare at Yusuke, who let out a huff of frustration for entirely different reasons.

“God, you’re fucking thirsty…” Hikaru said under his breath, making Akira, who was next to him, chuckle. Hikaru, noticing this, continued. “You hear nothing, Akira.”

“Sure, Hikaru.” They looked back at Ryuji, who was complaining about Yusuke’s eccentricity.

“How could you just scare them away?!” He cried.

“Then why don’t you just go with them?” The Thieves turned towards the frustrated voice to see Ann and Makoto. Ann looked less than pleased about Ryuji’s choice. “If that’s what you like, then who’s stopping you?”

“So that’s the kind of girls you like, Ryuji…” Makoto shook her head, disappointment clear in her expression.

“Uhh, well, I… umm…” Ryuji stuttered, lost for words.

“Alright, stop bullying the man,” Hikaru called, a large breath of relief coming from Ryuji.

“You look great, Hikaru! You see, hoodies aren’t always the answer, you know…” Ann said, taking another glance at the heir’s outfit.

“I know that, but hoodies are comfy,” Hikaru grumbled, pursing his lips. “Plus, it’s going to be fall, and that’s hoodie season.”

“But it’s summer now, and I trust you’re not dumb enough to wear a sweater in summer, even if it’s with nothing inside,” Akira commented. Hikaru rolled his eyes and started walking.

“Let’s go, losers, before I leave you.”

~~~

“Man, this sucks!”

Right as the fireworks were about to go off, it began raining. Hikaru, internally praising Merlin for his foresight, pulled out his umbrella while everyone else quickly rushed to the convenience store nearby to get out of the rain. Currently, all of them were gathered under the store’s shade, trying to dry themselves with whatever they could get.

“Here,” Akira passed a towel he just bought from the store to Ryuji. The blond muttered his thanks, shaking his head slightly to get water off of it and unknowingly spraying it onto Makoto. The girl let out a grunt, wringing the edges of her kimono to get out as much water as she could. Ann was doing the same, not noticing the stares from the people around her.

“Well, this is depressing for a party,” Makoto commented, mouth drawn into a tight smile.

“This so doesn’t count. You guys want to go inside? It’s a bit crowded, but at least there’s air conditioning,” Akira suggested.

“If anything, it’ll just make us get a cold. We’re soaked, and it might be hot, but its better than getting sick,” Yusuke reasoned, which Hikaru agreed with. He had taken off the outer shirt, it being too warm, even with the rain.

A car drove by them, stopping in front of the store across. Hikaru watched as a girl in a bright kimono entered, her features mostly obscured under the rain. However, he could see that the car wasn’t a cheap one, and that meant that it had to be someone of importance. The girl was around his age if her stature was an accurate indicator.

That made it easy for him to identify who it was. There was only one girl around his age whose family was wealthy enough to afford that car, and that would be Haru Okumura, a third-year in Shujin.

“What’s up, Makoto?” Hikaru turned back towards everyone, seeing that Ann was the one who spoke.

“…No, just thought I saw someone I know.” Makoto was staring at the car that drove by, and that confirmed it in Hikaru’s mind.

And then he realized there was no point in noticing that whatsoever. He let out a laugh, which caused confusion from everyone else, but he waved them off.

~~~

Hikaru returned home in time to hear the news broadcast playing in the living room.

“…The hacker group known as Medjed has updated their website with shocking information. It reads, “Dear Phantom Thieves. We have heard of your supposed justice, and we believe that your sense of justice is false. We will not stand for the false justice you uphold and will shed light to the truth behind the mask. However, we are magnanimous. We will allow you to join our ranks as true executors of justice should you have a change of heart. If not, we will strike with the hammer of justice. We are Medjed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil.”

Hikaru froze, turning his head to the television. Sure enough, it showed footage of the Medjed website, which has updated to show the message in English.

He pulled out his phone, seeing that their group chat was blowing up.

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_AT:_ ** _did you guys see the news?_

**_AK:_ ** _yeah_

**_RS:_ ** _this is our chance!_

**_YK:_ ** _This is more troubling than anything._

**_RS:_ ** _but it’ll be our big break! our name’ll blow up!_

**_RS:_ ** _we gotta change medjed’s heart!_

**_AK:_ ** _our normal answer is to change their heart, but I dont think thats gonna work this time_

**_MN:_ ** _We have no idea what their names even are, let alone their keywords._

**_MN:_ ** _Not to mention that Medjed is a well-known name in the entire world, making them international more than likely._

**_RS:_ ** _but still…_

**_AT:_ ** _how the hell are we supposed to deal with this?_

**_AK:_ ** _for now, do nothing?_

**_AK:_ ** _they havent done anything yet, so no need to panic yet_

**_MN:_ ** _But we should have some backup plan. They said that they’ll strike with the ‘hammer of justice’ should we not reveal ourselves._

**_HA:_ ** _this is a yikes from me_

**_AK:_ ** _any ideas captain_

**_HA:_ ** _i have one, but no idea if it works_

**_HA:_ ** _plus that plan isn’t exactly dependent on us_

**_HA:_ ** _ill try to confirm things on my end_

**_HA:_ ** _if it works ill tell all of you_

**_AT:_ ** _oh god thank you_

**_HA:_ ** _don’t get your hopes up just yet_

**_AK:_ ** _for now, just do what you can_

**_AK:_ ** _everyone else, just keep an eye out and do whatever research you can_

**_AK:_ ** _ryuji come ask mishima with me after school tmr_

**_RS:_ ** _oh yea hes good at internet stuff_

To be honest, the only person Hikaru could think of who could defeat Medjed wasn’t even someone he knew. The company handled info, sure, but none of them were hackers. It would’ve been too risky for them to hire people who could easily break through their cybersecurity.

No, he was thinking about the bug he found in Leblanc.

The fact that bugs were used proved that there was someone who was at least semi-decent at technology and possibly cyber-attacks since those usually came hand-in-hand. But even that was a stretch at best, and how the hell was he supposed to get in contact without overstepping his boundaries?

Well, he had to get back to Leblanc to try.

~~~

It was after school the next day that Hikaru stopped by Leblanc. Akira wasn’t around, as he had to meet someone to help them with something. He entered the store with a jingle, taking a seat at an empty booth.

“Oh, it’s you. I assume the same as last time?” Sojiro said from behind the counter.

“Hey, Boss. Yeah, that’ll be great, thanks.” Hikaru pulled out some homework to do while waiting for an opportunity to arise. He needed Sojiro to be out of the store, but Hikaru doubted that the café owner would simply leave at his request.

While doing his homework, the heir had Merlin do some digging of his own. His Persona’s abilities might be limited in reality, but it was still strong. He was able to scan the café to find the bug behind the counter, out of sight. And right under the TV on the counter was a camera, blended into the TV’s frame. As he thought, whoever set these up was either close enough to come and move it themselves or close enough to Sojiro to get him to do it.

“Here you have it.” A cup of coffee was placed on the table, with Hikaru nodding in gratitude along with a smile. He took a sip, letting out a content sigh.

“Thanks, Boss. It’s as good as ever.” The man let out a chuckle at the compliment.

“No prob, kid. Akira should be back around evening if you needed to talk to him.”

“No, it’s fine. I just like the atmosphere for studying here.” Sojiro nodded, and they went into a comfortable silence, with the sound of the TV providing soothing white noise.

It went on for a few hours, with Hikaru finishing the last of his work as the sun began to set. He stretched and let out a groan, feeling his joints pop. Right on time, the door opened with a ring.

Akira walked in and immediately stopped at seeing Hikaru in a booth, worksheets and notes scattered all about. Morgana leaped out of the bag, scampering over to Hikaru’s side. The heir hummed, a hand reaching over to scratch the cat on his head.

“What brought you here?” Akira asked, taking a seat across Hikaru.

“Just needed a good place to relax for a moment, hope you don’t mind.” Hikaru sneaked a glance at Sojiro, who had his back turned.

_“I’m here to test out the thing I mentioned yesterday. But I can’t with Sojiro here. Help me out?”_

Akira nodded. _Order a curry._

“Since I’m here, can you make me some curry? I’ll pay,” Hikaru said, eyes not leaving his worksheet.

“Sure. Sojiro, can I handle this one?” The café owner shrugged, gesturing to the kitchen.

Akira nodded, heading over to the counter and opening the fridge.

“Hey, Sojiro? We don’t have many ingredients left…” Sojiro raised an eyebrow, coming over to inspect himself. And sure enough, they didn’t have much left. He would have to go make a supply run at the grocery store nearby. He sighed, taking off his apron.

“I’ll leave you in charge. Entertain your friend while I do a run, alright?” Akira nodded, and Sojiro was gone. Immediately, Hikaru got up, going behind the counter to look for the bug. He plucked it out, placing it on the counter. Akira made a confused noise, while Hikaru went to grab the camera.

“What’s that?” Akira asked.

“A bug. Someone’s been listening to our conversations in Leblanc. Probably even right now. I noticed it a while ago, but since nothing happened, I ignored it.” Hikaru said this with a casual tone, as if talking about the weather. Akira and Morgana, on the other hand, wasn’t exactly fine with this.

“Wait, then doesn’t that mean…”

“That they know we’re Phantom Thieves? Yeah, probably.” Mona made a strangled noise.

“But I’m not too concerned. Whoever they are, they’ve had plenty of time to report us, but no cops have arrested in the past month. So whoever it is, they either don’t care, or have a common interest, or plan to blackmail us.” Just as they finished talking, Akira’s phone pinged with a notification. He pulled out his phone, with a message from an unknown number.

**_PM: ?? - > AK_ **

**_??:_ ** _Your friend is sharp._

**_??:_ ** _As expected from the heir of the Aozora._

**_AK:_ ** _Who are you?_

**_??:_ ** _You can call me Alibaba._

**_A:_ ** _I have a request for the Phantom Thieves._

**_A:_ ** _Will you accept it?_

**_AK:_ ** _I don’t think we have a choice._

**_A:_ ** _That is true._

**_A:_ ** _I would like you to steal a heart for me._

**_A:_ ** _I have prepared the necessary tools on my end._

**_A:_ ** _Should you succeed, I can assist you in dealing with Medjed._

**_A:_ ** _I could even provide you their identities, should you wish._

**_AK:_ ** _…I will need to discuss with the others._

**_A:_ ** _Fair enough. I will contact you in two days._

**_A:_ ** _Also, please return the mic and camera to their places._

**_A:_ ** _Goodbye._

Akira tried sending another message, but an error appeared instead, stating that the number wasn’t in use. Hikaru let out a huff, grabbing the spyware to put back to their places. Akira slumped into the booth, while Hikaru slipped back into his seat once everything was back to where it should be.

“We’ll have to bring this up to everyone tomorrow…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, if I started typing pure bullshit here, do you think people will realize?


	23. Seeds of Doubt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason why I won't give Hikaru a Palace.

Hikaru smiled, thanking the cashier as he got a pack of fries from Big Bang Burger.

Ryuji and Akira were talking to Mishima before everyone gathered, while Ann needed to go see Shiho first. Makoto and Yusuke were here, having small talk at the meeting place. Hikaru had said that he would be back and went off to get a snack. Because he was hungry and wanted fries again. God, Big Bang Burger fries were delicious.

By the time he got back, everyone was gathered, with Akira showing them the messages he got from Alibaba. He munched on a fry, listening to the conversation as Akira explained what happened in Leblanc yesterday.

“Was this what you wanted to test, Hikaru?” The heir gave Ann a wordless nod.

“I noticed Leblanc was bugged a while ago, but at that point, we already have discussed some incriminating things already. There wasn’t any point in stopping, plus Alibaba didn’t mention anything at all to the cops, so I thought it was fine.”

Makoto raised an eyebrow at that. “You knew for so long and didn’t say anything?”

“There was no reason to. Everyone was panicked enough from Kaneshiro’s, and before that, your threat. There was no reason to worry everyone even more given the circumstances. Tension was high, Makoto.” The president bristled at the mention of her actions in the past, giving a small nod.

“I was going to tell everyone, but then Medjed happened. So, I thought we could use this as a way to possibly deal with them, since we’re going against hackers here-” Akira reached a hand over to rest on Hikaru’s head, stopping him from talking.

“We get it, but next time tell us earlier, alright? Or at least, tell me. No secrets.”

Hikaru looked away, slightly embarrassed and slightly in guilt. “…Ok. Sorry.” He couldn’t tell them anything about Elizabeth or what’s actually happening, and it’s beginning to eat him away from the inside.

“You don’t have to handle everything alone,” Mona whispered from inside Akira’s bag, soft enough that only Hikaru could hear him.

“What do they mean by ‘necessary tools’?” Yusuke inquired, looking at the text messages on Akira’s phone.

“Yeah, do they know about our methods?” Makoto looked up at Akira, who shrugged.

“I would say not likely, since we haven’t discussed how we steal hearts in Leblanc or over text. So, they probably don’t know anything…” The leader ran a hand through his hair, letting out a sigh. “That’s the one advantage we have in all of this, but it’s not much, really. They have more than enough evidence to turn us in.”

“Then we don’t really got a choice…” Ryuji said, a scowl on his face. “Man, what is with people and blackmailing us?!” He reached a hand into Hikaru’s bag of fries, which the heir swatted away.

“Well, I suppose our choice was made for us. We’ll hear what this Alibaba has to say tomorrow. Keep us informed, Akira.” The leader nodded, and that conversation was left for another day.

“So, how did everyone do on their exams?” Ryuji grinned at Ann’s question.

“I actually passed with a decent score! Mr. Ushimaru was shocked as hell when he saw I got a solid B in Social Studies!”

“Really now?” Makoto asked with a smile. “Well, that’s certainly some good news.”

“Yeah! Hikaru, you promised, right?!” He looked at the heir, who sighed with a smile barely hidden.

“I remember. Congrats, Ryuji. Just tell me what you want whenever, alright?” The blond’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Yeah! Thanks again, Hikaru!”

“No prob, just make sure to maintain that grade.”

~~~

**_PM: A - > HA_ **

**_A:_ ** _Hello._

**_HA:_ ** _What’s up?_

**_HA:_ ** _Also, aren’t you supposed to talk to Akira?_

**_A:_ ** _I will contact him later._

**_A:_ ** _I have a request for you, separate from what I would like to ask of the Phantom Thieves._

**_HA:_ ** _And what makes you think I’ll do it?_

**_A:_ ** _Because you have no other choice._

**_HA:_ ** _Sadly, I don’t._

**_HA:_ ** _What do you need?_

**_A:_ ** _I need you to do some digging into the death of a scientist, Wakaba Isshiki._

**_HA:_ ** _I mean, sure, but couldn’t you do this yourself? You’re a hacker, aren’t you?_

**_A:_ ** _…Let’s say I have personal reasons._

**_HA:_ ** _…Alright._

**_HA:_ ** _What do you want to know?_

**_A:_ ** _Anything about her death. Cause of death, symptoms before, her will, everything. Every small detail, even if it’s pointless or arbitrary._

**_HA:_ ** _Okay. You want a detailed report?_

**_A:_ ** _Cut the sarcasm._

**_HA:_ ** _Can you blame me?_

**_A:_ ** _No, not really._

**_A:_ ** _I’ll want it done in a few days._

**_A:_ ** _Oh, and keep this secret from everyone else._

**_HA:_ ** _Why?_

**_A:_ ** _You ask a lot of questions._

**_HA:_ ** _It’s in my blood._

**_A:_ ** _…Fair enough. To answer your question, I have my reasons._

**_HA:_ ** _I would ask, but it seems that that’s not wanted here._

**_A:_ ** _At least you learn fast._

~~~

Hikaru groaned and stretched his back.

He has been sitting at the computer for a solid three hours now, compiling information about Wakaba Isshiki at the request of Alibaba. The strange thing to Hikaru, however, was that anything worth noting about Wakaba was during her life.

She was one of the core researchers heading the project of cognitive psience, delving into human cognition, and how to change it. In essence, one might even say she was the precursor to the Phantom Thieves as a whole, learning about the cognitive world, even if she didn’t know it.

But her death was almost dull, compared to what she did in her life. According to surface research, it seemed that the cause of death was suicide, due to a form of maternity neurosis. She was a single parent, with a daughter named Futaba. She was about ten when her mother passed, leaving her to get passed between relatives. A suicide note revealed the cause of death, but Hikaru has learned that not all things that he read can be believed.

So, he took this to the Archives. Rereading the case file, it was clear that the Aozora had a lot more details about the case. But as he read again, it came to a similar conclusion. Maternity neurosis, and suicide. However, the details told a different story altogether.

“Framed suicide…?” Hikaru muttered to himself.

Wakaba Isshiki’s death was an entire mystery. On the official listing, it was written as suicide. The Aozora records, however, wrote it as a loose end. Multiple sources state that Wakaba’s personality didn’t match what was portrayed in the suicide note. One of these sources caught his eye.

“Sojiro Sakura?”

That gave him the connection to Alibaba. Now he knows that Alibaba must be somehow connected to Wakaba, at least by proxy via Sojiro. But the café owner never mentioned anything about Wakaba or any friends or relatives he might have that were related.

Then again, why would he?

This led to questions about Sojiro. He was hesitant at first. It was against his own moral code, to look into others’ past because of personal curiosity. It was a breach of privacy and would make him no better than anyone whose heart the Phantom Thieves were changing. He was abusing his power.

But a small peek wouldn’t hurt, right?

And now he knew all about Sojiro. About how he used to work for the government, acting as a liaison between them and Wakaba’s lab. About how he was the one who took care of Futaba, Wakaba’s daughter, when her relatives threw her away. Hikaru felt scared as he continued looking things up, as if he was walking on a tightrope and everything was about to collapse around him, but he couldn’t stop going. It was addicting.

_“Calm down there, partner.”_

Hikaru snapped out of his reverie. Merlin had appeared in front of him, hovering over the computer. The Persona looked disgruntled, but otherwise the same.

“Merlin?”

 _“You’re losing yourself.”_ Hikaru took a moment to reflect on himself, and to look at what he had done. Merlin was right. He took a shaky breath, feeling his mind getting clouded.

He felt disgusted, at first. Disgusted at himself, for falling for his urges. And then guilt, at doing the one thing he swore not to. It was feeding into that unsure feeling he had, and it was the factor that pushed him off of the dangerous balancing act he had.

“…I’m sorry.” Everything in his peripheral began shaking, his vision narrowing. He tried to keep calm, but his breath rate was increasing.

_“I can sense the seeds of doubt in you, Hikaru. That won’t do, at all. Doubt could lead to distortion, you know?”_

Elizabeth’s words echoed in his mind. She was right, he doubted himself. He didn’t know if he could handle this, if he deserved all of this. The power was getting to him, and if he didn’t stop, who knows what would happen? Would Merlin fade into nonexistence? Would he form a Palace?

_“Power is dangerous, you know this the best. I can do this for you, at least. Don’t worry, you won’t be harmed.”_

Hikaru felt nauseous as Merlin’s form wavered in front of him. He struggled to get his feet, stumbling his way back into his room. He could barely reach the bed before the creeping darkness around his vision overtook him.

~~~

Hikaru got on his feet, looking around at his surroundings. Everything was blurry, with fog covering everything within sight.

“Where…?” The last thing he remembered was getting knocked out by Merlin, and falling unconscious on his bed.

“Why are you here?”

Hikaru turned his head around to face the voice behind him. And he saw…him?

A mirror image of the heir, down to what he was wearing and how his hair was styled. The only difference was that his eyes were a bright yellow, instead of the sky blue that Hikaru had.

“What the hell?!” Hikaru exclaimed, taking a step back.

“You shouldn’t be here, not when everything’s still like this.” The other Hikaru glanced around them, at the large amount of fog everywhere. “Why are you here?”

“I don’t know…Where are we, anyway?” Seeing that the other him wasn’t attacking, Hikaru relaxed slightly.

“We’re in your head.” A raised eyebrow. “You’ve been here before, you know. I thought you knew about this place.”

“I…what?”

“Remember Madarame? The whole internal panic attack that happened?” Other Hikaru rolled his yellow eyes in annoyance. “God, it’s like you’re not even yourself.”

“No, I get that, but who are you?”

Other Hikaru let out a small smile, eyes narrowing slightly. “I’m you.”

“…What?”

“You know who I am. Elizabeth and Theodore have warned you.” Hikaru recalled his initial meeting with the two attendants.

_“We haven’t explained Shadows yet, have we? Shadows are the dark side of people, you could say. Their inner repressed selves that they hide, not wanting to show it to the world.”_

“So, you’re my Shadow?” The Shadow nodded, looking off into the darkness.

“Yeah. I’m your worst fears incarnate. What you imagine yourself at the worst.” Looking just from appearance, they were almost identical. But if what was in front of him was truly his Shadow, then there wouldn’t be any differences physically.

“You’re lucky I’m not distorted enough to try and steal your consciousness. You have Merlin to thank for that.” The Shadow gave a sad chuckle, eyes dulling. “Not like I’ll have a reason to, anyway.”

Hikaru said nothing as he watched his Shadow curl up into a fetal position, head hidden in his knees.

“You know, sometimes I wonder if accepting Elizabeth’s request was really worth it. We’ve been through a lot so far, wouldn’t you say?” Hikaru nodded slowly.

“…Yeah.” Hikaru was hesitant to answer, especially since he knew what’s going to happen.

“Do you think it’s worth it? We did this only because of curiosity and belief that a strong friendship will form, no?” The Shadow kept its head lowered.

“I’m more than happy with what we have. Aren’t you?” Hikaru knew the answer in his heart. And it seems like his Shadow did as well.

“This is all volatile. You’ve seen it before, one wrong move and everything blows up. You thought Naoki was your friend, and you were happy, weren’t you?” Hikaru bit his lip.

“Add that to your role as the navigator, and it’s literally their lives at forfeit here. One wrong move from you, and they die.” The Shadow’s eyes were tearing into Hikaru’s soul, revealing his deepest insecurities. Was this what it’s like to encounter your Shadow?

“Are you able to handle that responsibility?”

Hikaru didn’t have an answer, and he didn’t want to answer, because that was admitting that his Shadow was right, and he didn’t want to.

His Shadow chuckled, looking up at him with a sad smile. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

His Shadow rested his chin on his knees, looking at his feet. “Deny me. That’s just asking for me to take over you. I don’t want that.”

“…Why not? By all means, I’m in a terrible mental spot right now. This should be an easy win.” Hikaru took a seat in the darkness, beside his inner desires.

“I told you, I don’t want to. I’m not that separated from you, since you know I’m a part of yourself. That makes it hard for me to even be a separate entity like this.” The Shadow sighed, looking around. “Plus, you think Merlin will let me? He’s one of the originals, you know. Even I know not to mess with you, as long as he’s around.”

“That’s…reassuring,” Hikaru answered.

“Well, I think you should go. Merlin’s been in your body for the past day, you know.”

“Wait, day?!” The Shadow let out a genuine laugh at his other self’s panic.

“You’ve been in here for a day.” He repeated with a nod.

“We had one conversation!” Hikaru looked around for some way to get out of his mind. There was the thing with Alibaba, not to mention what the Phantom Thieves might have discovered.

“Time’s weird. I lost track of what day it was. The only reason I knew it was a day is because of Merlin’s complaining.”

 _“Damn right I am. How the fuck did you stay passed out for almost ten hours?”_ Merlin’s voice echoed in his mindscape.

“I mean, you made me pass out…” Hikaru faked innocence, even though the Persona couldn’t see him. At least, he thought he couldn’t.

Merlin let out an annoyed huff. _“Just take back your body.”_

The dreamscape began to brighten, the fog lifting.

Hikaru’s Shadow gave him a small wave, a smile on his face. “I’m glad I talked to you when I could have, Hikaru. Just remember, I’m you, alright?”

Hikaru watched as his surroundings that were hidden in fog and darkness lit up. It turned into a beautiful park, with bright flowers and many paths. It was a familiar park, the one close to his house, where he used to go every weekend with his parents. His Shadow no longer had his appearance, but was in the form of Sky, goggles off. He sent Hikaru off with a wide smile, waving. Hikaru let out a chuckle, a smile of his own growing.

“Yeah, you are.”

Everything faded into light. Hikaru closed his eyes, feeling a weight off his chest.

~~~

“…Hikaru?”

The heir startled, seeing Ann’s concerned eyes right in front of his face.

“What’s up?”

She huffed. “That should be my line. You’ve been acting off for the entire day. You first blanked out when we were in class and couldn’t answer when Mr. Hiruta called you. And then when Akira was talking just now, you just seemed pissed off for no reason. And now you’re daydreaming again. Everyone’s worried, Hikaru. What’s wrong with you today?”

Hikaru looked around, and sure enough, everyone was giving him concerned glances. Ryuji approached him hesitantly, resting a hand on his shoulder. “You know if something’s up, you can tell us, yeah?”

“…It’s nothing.” That didn’t reassure anyone.

“We can discuss this some other day if you’re not feeling too well, Hikaru.” Hikaru waved Akira’s concern off and shook his head, gesturing for him to continue.

“Go on, we don’t have much time, do we?” Akira was reluctant, but bit his lip and continued.

“We’ll need to learn more about Futaba Sakura. I’ll try to ask Boss, but I don’t think I’ll get much info. He doesn’t like talking about his personal life much,” Akira said.

“I’ll do some research of my own on Medjed to see if we can get some sort of idea of who’s behind this.” Makoto glanced at her phone, and a strange expression took over her face. “I have to go, Sis is getting home soon and I need to prepare dinner. I’ll see all of you tomorrow.” With Akira’s nod, she left, heading towards the station.

“Hey, Hikaru, couldn’t you look this up?” Hikaru froze, turning his head stiffly towards Ryuji.

“…No. Sorry.” Ryuji was confused at the quick refusal but took the hint.

“Then we can’t do anything but ask Sojiro and hope for the best.” Hikaru lowered his head, feeling his guilt bubble up at lying once again to his friends.

“I’m sorry…” The Thieves looked at him again in concern, glancing at each other with worried looks.

“It’s fine, Hikaru. The unpredictability of the situation isn’t your fault.” The words were said, but it did nothing to ease the pool of guilt building.

He looked back at what his Shadow had said. He had accepted it at the time, but it wasn’t that easy. Being placed back in reality proved it. He had to live with the story he made, and that scared him. He was so scared of what they’ll feel when they learn the truth, and how that’ll end for him. Will they leave him? Will they stay with him? He didn’t want to know.

It seems that accepting his Shadow doesn’t make every problem just disappear.

 _“The report is in your bag.”_ Hikaru reached into his bag, and sure enough, the first thing he saw was a report, with the title ‘Wakaba Isshiki’. Everything they needed to know about Futaba was written there, along with how Sojiro was involved in this mess.

 _“…Only if it comes down to it.”_ Hikaru frowned, zipping his bag up. It was Sojiro’s personal issue, and he’ll only interfere if it was absolutely necessary.

“We’re really in a slump…” Yusuke muttered, eyes on the marble floor of the walkway.

“I’ll see what we can do about this. For now, just keep your heads low.” Ryuji nodded and left, saying something about his mom needing him home. Yusuke took the chance to leave as well, muttering about inspiration and art, but Hikaru wasn’t listening.

“I’ll head home as well if we’re not doing anything.” Ann grabbed her bag, waving at the two boys with a smile. “Take care of yourself, Hikaru.”

Hikaru gave her a small nod, along with a slight wave.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them, with Hikaru biting his lip at the awkwardness. Akira did nothing to break it, eyes on his phone. Neither of them moved, each not making eye contact.

Hikaru was internally flipping a coin. He trusted Akira, more than he did himself at this point. The bespectacled teen had a strong sense of morals, especially after being wronged by the law. He also knew what lines were meant to be crossed, and which one held boundaries not to be pushed.

The coin landed on heads. He could feel Merlin’s smirk in his mind.

“Hey, Akira.”

The leader turned his head over, turning his phone off. Hikaru sighed, reaching into his bag and handing over the report.

Akira stayed silent as he read, not saying anything. Hikaru looked away, fearing his friend’s reaction after just lying to all of them in the face. He took a deep breath to calm himself, but Akira stayed silent.

The ruffling of paper stopped, and Hikaru held his breath.

“What’s this for?” Hikaru let out a shaky breath, not turning his head to face Akira.

“Alibaba made a request for me to compile this. I thought you would want to know,” was the curt response. Akira said nothing.

“Well, thanks.” Hikaru made a noise. He expected Akira to be angry, especially after the promise he made. At this point, he might have preferred him to be. But Akira stayed as calm as he always was, and that wasn’t what Hikaru wanted.

“…Stop that.”

“Stop what?” Akira sounded genuinely confused, and that made Hikaru feel even worse.

“…You’re supposed to be mad at me, Akira. I literally promised not to keep anything from all of you anymore, but I still am not telling all of you anything. I broke your trust, why aren’t you mad?” Hikaru felt his eyes water, wiping it off with his sleeve before anything could fall.

“Is that what you want?” Akira sounded perfectly calm, a major contrast to how Hikaru felt internally. “Do you want me to be angry at you, Hikaru?”

“…No.” Hikaru’s voice was barely audible, with the heir hunched on the railing and looking out, face barely visible from Akira’s point of view. Akira let out a soft huff.

“…Come with me. We’ll talk somewhere else.” The leader walked away, Hikaru only following after a moment of hesitation.

~~~

“This brings back memories.”

They were back at Big Bang Burger, where Hikaru had first spilled his darkest secrets with Akira.

“More like a huge sense of déjà vu, but I guess.” Akira took a seat, while Hikaru slid into the booth opposite of him.

“Now, tell me what’s up. You’ve been listening to me talk about my issues for a while, it’s the least I could do for you.” Akira rested his chin on his palm.

“…It’s not a pleasant story, I’m telling you.”

And he talked. He talked about his life, and this time, he included everything. Assassination attempts, strict rules, Naoki’s betrayal. He included everything, only stopping occasionally to take a sip of water.

Akira stayed respectfully silent as Hikaru recounted everything, only a soft hum here and there to show that he was listening.

Hikaru choked up slightly as he talked about his past schooling incident, leading to the strict rules in his life now, which have started to loosen as Hikaru got older. He remembered the betrayal he felt as he was left on the ground, broken and bloody, while everyone just stood and watched. The multiple stares, none of them in pity or sympathy, but instead joy and pride at seeing him weak and broken.

That was the one incident where he learned the true power of information, and why he had promised himself to not look into anyone’s files. It scared him to find what was there, and what their reaction would be if they knew he knew.

After he finished, Akira hummed, pulling the report out. He placed it on the desk, sliding it back over to Hikaru.

“I think you can have this back.”

“…This doesn’t exactly help, but thanks.” Hikaru grabbed the report, slipping it back into his bag.

“I won’t mention anything to anyone. This’ll stay between me and you.” Hikaru slowly looked up from the table.

“Why? You can tell them, they deserve to know.”

“Then tell them yourself.”

Hikaru frowned.

“I trust you, Hikaru. I literally leave my life in your hands in the Metaverse. I trust that you know what’s best for the Phantom Thieves as a whole. And I think that everyone else trusts you just as much. There have been countless times where your help has saved everyone. Without you, we would just be wandering around in the dark with no indication of where we’re going at all.”

“So, I trust you in this. I trust you know what’s best for all of us in this situation. The only worry I have is your trust in yourself. You are one of the strongest people I know, and I have no idea how you’ve been handling all these things yourself for so long. That has effects on everyone, no matter how strong they are.”

“So, once again, Hikaru, I’m going to ask you. Are you okay?” Hikaru felt something well up in his throat. His breaths were labored, tears threatening to escape. He let out a sad chuckle.

“…No. No, I’m not, and I don’t think I’ve been fine for a while now, Akira. I barely know what I’m doing, and I’m fucking terrified. I’m so scared that one wrong move on my part will kill all of us, and it’ll be on my hands.” The tears started falling, and Hikaru erupted in sobs.

“One wrong move, Akira, is all it takes. You have no idea how scared I was during Madarame’s Palace, when Ryuji was about to die. I had nightmares for a few days after that, reliving the experience but I couldn’t save him. But even more than that, I’m scared of myself. I’m scared that I’ll disappoint, or that I’ll mess up, and it’s all over.”

Akira got up and moved to sit beside Hikaru in the booth. The heir leaned on his friend, sobs quieting.

“You’ve been through a lot, Hikaru. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you when you needed me. I’m here now, so you can cry.”

And he did. He cried while Akira held him in his arms. Hikaru felt so vulnerable at the moment, face buried in Akira’s chest. There were people staring, but the two boys didn’t care. At this point, it was the least of their concerns.

Hikaru released all the emotions he had kept bottled up over the years, all through middle school and in high school. It flowed out like a dam, and Akira was there to ground him through it all.

It took a while, but eventually, Hikaru stopped, letting out a relieved sigh and wiping off the rest of his tears with his hoodie’s sleeve. Akira gave him a pat on the back, along with a smile.

“You feel better now?”

Hikaru let out a wet laugh.

“Yeah, thanks. Sorry about your clothes…” Hikaru looked at the wet patch on Akira’s uniform, which he waved away.

“It’s fine, a small price to pay for the mental wellbeing of one of my important friends. You’ve done so much for me in particular, I’m okay with paying back this much.”

“I wouldn’t say I did much, just spent time talking to you. That’s not much, Akira.” Akira grinned.

“It’s more than enough for me.” Hikaru laughed at Akira’s cheesy response.

“Are you trying to flirt with me here?”

“Is it working?”

“God, maybe. Next time, do it with some fries. Then it’s a guarantee.”

~~~

**_PM: HA - > AK_ **

**_HA:_ ** _just wanna thank you again for earlier_

**_AK:_ ** _np_

**_AK:_ ** _btw what are we gonna do about futaba_

**_HA:_ ** _honestly we need some way to meet her to even get info_

**_HA:_ ** _what i have is far from enough_

**_HA:_ ** _all i know about her is that she’s in sojiro’s custody_

**_AK:_ ** _i’ll ask alibaba when they message me again_

**_HA:_ ** _cant they read this_

**_A:_ ** _I can._

**_HA:_ ** _well there you go i guess_

**_A:_ ** _Must you meet the person to perform the change of heart?_

**_AK:_ ** _considering the situation, yes_

**_AK:_ ** _could you arrange a meeting?_

**_A:_ ** _This complicates things…_

**_A:_ ** _Let me think._

**_HA:_ ** _well while they do that hows life akira_

**_AK:_ ** _great im getting blackmailed by a hacker_

**_HA:_ ** _really you too amazing_

**_HA:_ ** _same here_

**_AK:_ ** _oh wow what a coincidence_

**_A:_ ** _Alright. I’m back._

**_A:_ ** _You can call our deal off._

**_A:_ ** _I won’t report you all, so it’s fine._

**_A:_ ** _Don’t try to contact me anymore._

**_A:_ ** _Goodbye._

**_HA:_ ** _and theyre gone_

**_AK:_ ** _well, what do we do now?_

**_AK:_ ** _we should tell everyone what happened first_

**_HA:_ ** _yea_

**_HA:_ ** _this is a big yikes_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I should talk about the specifics in this chapter, because there's a lot to unpack here that needs explanation. First off, Shadows are born from distorted desires, right? The game also states that Personas are the inner self, your will of rebellion. What I'm confused about is why can't these two things coexist? That's what I'm exploring here. It's said that this is because Persona users are grounded in reality, so they cannot have distorted desires. In that case, what about Akechi? I would say the dude's pretty fucking distorted, but he still holds a Persona. Many other fics also explore this idea, of Persona users having a Shadow. I personally think it's totally valid.
> 
> At the end, Hikaru accepts his Shadow, but that doesn't mean that everything's gone in a snap. You still will have to live with what you have done. That's why I decided that even if he accepted his Shadow, he still has to live with his guilt. Technically, he changed his own heart, kind of like what Mishima did in his Confidant.


	24. A Lead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to leave a trigger warning for Futaba.

“Are you for real?!”

Everyone flinched at Ryuji’s loud exclamation, which also caught the attention of students in the classroom.

“Quiet down, will you?!” Ann whisper yelled, sending the delinquent a glare. He let out an embarrassed chuckle, scratching the back of his neck.

“So what do we do?” Ryuji asked again, a lot quieter but just as shocked.

“Not too sure. But for now, nothing? Medjed still hasn’t made an announcement of what this ‘hammer of justice’ is, so there’s no reason to panic.” Hikaru responded, not looking up from his manga.

“He’s right. They haven’t said anything about what they were going to do, so we have no reason to panic as of now,” Akira continued.

“If we have nothing to do, then how about we go get some nice food? We didn’t actually have a proper party, since we got rained on during the festival,” Ann suggested, which Akira didn’t object to.

“We can use the rest of the money we got from the briefcase. I think we had plenty left. I’ll check later,” Akira said. “Just double-check with everyone and get back to me with where we’re going.”

“Where do you guys think’ll be nice this time?” Ryuji’s excitement was palpable.

“Ooh, I suggest sushi!” Morgana piped up from Akira’s desk. Hikaru hummed in thought. He hasn’t been to a sushi place in a while, so why not?

“I think I know some good sushi places that we can go to. I’ll find one for us!” Ann said, which Hikaru agreed with. The girl was amazing at finding places with good food, and he was yet to be disappointed.

“Wonderful, Lady Ann! Now we just need to make sure everyone has their schedule clear.” Morgana purred in excitement of getting some fresh sashimi.

“I can do that!” Ryuji volunteered, pulling out his phone.

“Then we have a plan, I guess. Hikaru, can you come with me after school?” Hikaru raised an eyebrow but nodded.

“Sure, but what’s up?” Akira shook his head, which Hikaru sighed at.

“Gotcha, Joker…” Hikaru muttered under his breath, hidden by Ann’s excited giggles as she looked up good places to go for sushi.

~~~

“So, what’re we doing this time? Am I meeting another one of your many informants around the city again?”

Akira chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

“No, not really. You’re just coming along for safety and to make sure I don’t miss anything.” Well, if he said it like that…

And off they went. Hikaru followed Akira to Kichijoji, a part of town that he’s never really been to before. He brought Hikaru to a café, which had a retro vibe unlike Leblanc’s. They both grabbed a seat, but Hikaru noted the table for three. Soon enough, the third showed up.

“Oh, Kurusu, Aozora. Nice to see you both again.”

Akechi gave a short bow, his signature smile plastered on his face. Hikaru sent a glare towards Akira, who faked innocence, greeting Akechi in return. The heir sighed internally, sticking on his PR smile, as he had decided to call it.

“Akechi, nice to see you again.” Hikaru’s voice sounded strained, and he knew Akechi caught that. He’s making his disgust as obvious as ever. Akechi’s grin faltered, but he quickly recovered.

“So, why don’t we order something?” Akira seemed to sense the thinly veiled animosity from both parties, trying to defuse the situation.

“Of course, let’s.” Akechi took a seat, a gloved hand reaching for the menu. He flipped over to the desserts section, a tiny smile on his face as he scanned the multitude of desserts presented.

Meanwhile, Hikaru had taken his phone out and began scrolling through social media. However, his mind was wandering, gathering information he could. This might be the only chance he got to perform a full scan with Akechi so close by. Information appeared in his vision, highlighting important points in Akechi’s physique.

Developed muscles, practiced grip, wary eyes. All tells that not the normal person could have seen. No amount of teenage detective work would’ve developed such traits. Akechi’s movements were as sharp as his words, leaving no amount of wasted effort. Everything was trained to be perfect, precise, almost scarily so. Police don’t move with this kind of precision.

But assassins? Definitely.

Merlin’s scan delved into the Metaverse, and there Hikaru saw Akechi’s true appearance. Overwhelmingly heavy presence, slasher smile, jagged mask, and dark clothing. Just his appearance himself gave Hikaru chills, but the heir held it in. he couldn’t show weakness, not right now. He kept his navy-blue eyes on his phone, hiding his change in eye color due to him using Merlin’s abilities.

But Akechi is still a detective.

“Aozora, are your eyes a different color?” Hikaru immediately got out of Akechi’s mind, eyes turning back to the sky blue that they were right as he looked up from his phone’s screen.

“What do you mean?” Hikaru asked, tilting his head in fake confusion. Akechi stayed silent but raised an eyebrow.

“…Nothing. Perhaps I was seeing things.” His tone implied that he wasn’t, but Hikaru wasn’t going to be the one to call him out. Secret assassin or not, Akechi was still a police officer.

“So how have you been, Akechi?” Akira asked, in an attempt to get a conversation going.

“Oh, the same. School, then detective work. It has been slightly stressful, due to the whole Phantom Thieves thing. Have you heard about Kaneshiro’s incident?” Akechi pointed his order to a waitress, who nodded and bowed, taking her leave.

“You mean the mafia boss?”

“Yes. I’m sure you all have seen the calling cards all over Shibuya, if not in reality then on the internet. A few days ago, Kaneshiro had turned himself in. The police are losing face at the moment, and my remarks against the Phantom Thieves aren’t helping in the slightest.” Akechi rested his hands on the round wooden table, letting out a breath. “Not to mention Medjed, now.”

“Medjed? They didn’t mention anything, just an empty threat.” Hikaru said, resting his phone on the table.

“You didn’t read the new update on their website?”

That caught the two Thieves’ attention.

“They have set a deadline for their supposed ‘cleanse’ of Tokyo of the Phantom Thieves. August 21st, if I remember right. They mentioned revealing confidential information of most famous companies, including the Aozora, and toppling the entirety of Japan’s economy should the Phantom Thieves not expose themselves.” Hikaru huffed, while Akira cursed silently.

“What can they leak? The Aozora Archives were tried and tested, it’s almost impossible to even access it. Most people just see it as a myth, at this point.” Hikaru said this, but Akechi didn’t see his jumpy leg underneath the table. He was as nervous as he thought he was.

“If you believe so. But I would rather not take the risk. Plus, the Aozora aren’t the only ones with governmental ties. The entirety of Japan itself would collapse if all this information was leaked across the globe.” Akechi fiddled with his glove.

“Sir, your order.” A waiter interrupted, delivering the food that they had ordered. Akira gave a sigh of relief, seeing the chance to change the conversation topic.

“So how have exams been?”

The conversation continued quietly, enjoying the comfortable atmosphere the café gave. The conversation itself was almost pleasant, but Hikaru and Akira remained on guard. Slight glances here and there at each other, wary glances at Akechi when he took a bite of his dessert. Hikaru couldn’t risk another mind scan, especially with Akechi now paying attention to when he activated his powers. But more than that, he was wondering about what to do regarding Medjed.

“…and then I decided, you know, why not just do it?” Akira was currently in the middle of telling a weird story in his childhood involving a diaper, some cheese slices, and half a can of hair spray. Hikaru had stopped listening halfway in fear of getting brain damage.

Akechi was barely scraping by if his smile faltering meant anything. “Please tell me that you didn’t put the diaper on.”

Akira gave the detective a killer grin.

“I put the diaper on. It was the most uncomfortable thing I felt on my ass, let me tell you that.”

Akechi cringed, and Hikaru had to resist laughing. Akira was about the same, barely holding in his chuckles.

“God, I forget why I decided that you were an interesting person. Clearly, you’re absolutely stupid.” Akira gave him another grin and a wink, which had the detective rolling his eyes.

Akechi looked outside and noted the setting sun. “Well, this has been a pleasant conversation, and I believe I should get going before it is too late.”

“Same here. Come on, we can head to the station together.” Akira waved a waiter over, asking for the bill. Akechi offered to pay, but Akira stopped him, reached a hand out to Hikaru, who slipped his card from his wallet into Akira’s fingers.

“I’ve learned that Hikaru here doesn’t like people treating him to food, so at this point, I just ask.” Akechi turned to Hikaru to confirm this statement, and the teen shrugged.

“I have money, Akechi. What better way of using it than to help my friends?”

“Then thank you, Aozora.”

“My pleasure.” The heir slung his bag on his shoulder, checking his phone again. The waiter came back soon enough, card and receipt in his hand. He passed it to Hikaru, who said his thanks with a smile and got out, Akira and Akechi following behind.

Hikaru took the opportunity to try to get more info. Merlin jumped into the teen detective behind him, performing scans on Akechi’s overall abilities, magical and physical attributes, and Persona weaknesses. What Merlin read was interesting, to say the least.

Akechi seemed to have contradicting data. He had a strong Bless-based Persona, but his affinity for Curse attacks seemed to be almost otherworldly. Of course, this wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence. Akira himself had some Personas who nullified both Bless and Curse attacks. What was weird was that his Persona itself had a Curse weakness.

Personas are almost never able to use attacks that they were weak to. The only way he would be able to do that is via fusion, which Akira does. As far as Hikaru knew, only the residents of the Velvet Room had the ability to perform Persona fusion, and none of the ones he knew mentioned anything about Akechi. Hikaru would have to double-check.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Personas have weaknesses and strengths depending on their stories and appearances. This is because stories spread around influence a Shadow’s, and therefore, a Persona’s attributes. That is why weaker Shadows are lesser creatures, while stronger Shadows tend to be gods or mythical beings. They are believed to be stronger, and that strength of belief strengthens the Persona.

Akechi’s Persona, Robin Hood, is relatively well known across media. You would expect Robin Hood to be a strong Persona, but based on what Merlin showed him, Robin Hood was barely a threat. He wasn’t weak, sure, but not strong enough that Akira couldn’t take him in a one-on-one.

So what was that huge sense of power he sensed all that while back in Madarame’s Palace?

Akechi couldn’t have possibly grown that quickly. It wasn’t humanly possible.

Hikaru’s thoughts were interrupted by Akira’s voice. “Well, I had a fun time. It was nice seeing you again, Akechi.”

“Same here. You don’t seem to be the jackass people on the internet say you are,” Hikaru added with a smile. Akechi chuckled.

“Surely you know about media bias, Aozora. Now, I’ll be taking my leave. And please, Kurusu, never mention the diaper story anywhere near me ever again.”

“No promises. You’re the only one I told it to, you know.”

“Then I surely didn’t need to hear it. Goodbye.”

And Akechi was gone. After waiting for a moment for him to leave earshot, Akira and Hikaru got on the train heading back to Shibuya.

“You have new info?” Akira whispered.

Hikaru let out an insulted snort. “Who the hell do you think I am, Akira? Of course I do. And I don’t think you’ll like it. I’ll inform everyone later tonight. We’re still on for sushi tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah, our reservation’s at 5:30. We can get some and maybe bring some back for Sojiro, he definitely deserves some.”

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_AK:_ ** _so that’s the sitch_

**_RS:_ ** _wait, im confused_

**_AT:_ ** _same here…_

**_HA:_ ** _there’s two options here_

**_HA:_ ** _either merlin’s scan back at madarame’s palace was wrong, which i doubt heavily_

**_HA:_ ** _or akechi’s hiding something major_

**_HA:_ ** _not to mention that killer intent i felt? that’s not from robin hood_

**_HA:_ ** _im scared to say, but akechi might be able to use multiple personas_

**_MN:_ ** _A Wild Card, like Akira?_

**_RS:_ ** _then how tf are we supposed to deal with him_

**_AT:_ ** _akira’s literally our ace, and akechi has the same power?_

**_AK:_ ** _oh boi_

**_YK:_ ** _That would mean Akechi is extremely dangerous. We should be wary of him from now on._

**_YK:_ ** _He already seems suspicious of us, at least I feel so._

**_HA:_ ** _we don’t know if akechi can store as many personas as akira but we should assume the worst_

**_MN:_ ** _Then we definitely shouldn’t engage him, should we spot him._

**_RS:_ ** _man, this sucks…_

**_AK:_ ** _we don’t have to worry about it for now_

**_AK:_ ** _we should focus on alibaba and medjed_

**_AK:_ ** _hikarus right, we’re not at akechi’s level yet_

**_AK:_ ** _if we by some terrible luck encounter akechi, flash escape_

**_MN:_ ** _Good idea._

**_MN:_ ** _But what can we do regarding Medjed?_

**_AK:_ ** _at this point, nothing_

**_AK:_ ** _i guess we can just look further into futaba_

**_AK:_ ** _shes the only choice we have so far_

**_RS:_ ** _and boss won’t say anything right_

**_AK:_ ** _yeah so its probably a sensitive topic_

**_HA:_ ** _we have no other choice now_

**_HA:_ ** _but back to akechi, is it possible for us to legally obtain flashbangs_

**_MN:_ ** _I’m going to say no, but Akira’ll probably find some loophole._

**_AK:_ ** _you’ll be right there_

**_RS:_ ** _wait, like actual flashbangs?!_

**_AT:_ ** _why are u so shocked? we use guns and bombs???_

**_AK:_ ** _i know a contact who can get some supplies_

**_AK:_ ** _worst case i think mona can teach me to make some that’ll be barely passing_

**_AK:_ ** _don’t even know if those’ll work_

**_MN:_ ** _Regardless, just have some prepared. We’ll need to be properly equipped on Mementos trips, and in Palaces as well. Especially since Akechi seems to be tailing us._

**_MN:_ ** _Just prepare for the worst, but hope for the best._

**_RS:_ ** _roger_

**_AK:_ ** _ill get on it_

**_HA:_ ** _ill see what digging i can do legally_

**_MN:_ ** _That would be ideal._

**_YK:_ ** _We are still gathering tomorrow for sushi, yes?_

**_AT:_ ** _yep meet at the station by 5!_

**_YK:_ ** _Understood. Now, I’ll be back to painting if nothing important is being discussed._

**_AK:_ ** _we’ll catch u up if u miss anything_

**_YK:_ ** _That would be appreciated. I’ll be going now._

**_AK:_ ** _i guess i should go double check with iwai for the flashbangs_

**_AK:_ ** _later losers_

~~~

“That was amazing!” Morgana cheered from Hikaru’s shoulder. He let out a squeal of joy once again, with the heir reaching up occasionally to stroke him on the ear.

“We should go there next time!” Morgana cried.

“I mean, won’t be opposed to it…” Akira muttered under his breath, “but the buffet’s better in my opinion.”

“We’re passing that to Boss, yeah?” Ryuji gestured to the take-out package in Akira’s hand.

“Yep.”

“We do owe Boss quite a lot, don’t we?” Ann brushed back a pigtail. “He saved us quite a lot…”

“He’s done a lot of things for me, so I thought I could get him something in return. It’s only fair,” Akira replied.

Hikaru hummed. He knew he had overstepped his bounds with the bug and everything, so this was partly a gift from him too.

The moon was already out by the time they got out of the station, the moonlight soft on the Thieves’ faces. It was rare for moonlight to shine so brightly, especially with the light pollution in Tokyo. However, tonight was a quiet night, and the lights nearby were all off, giving everyone a rare chance in their lives. Everyone stopped to take in the sight, slightly in awe.

“The moon is truly breath-taking tonight…” Yusuke mused, making a frame with his fingers. “What a rare occurrence. A touch of nature in the middle of man’s development…A wonderful sight indeed.”

“It is a nice sight,” Makoto hummed, brushing a strand of hair back.

They stayed there for a moment, watching as the moon got eclipsed by the cloudy sky. Hikaru felt a tingly feeling in his gut, but it wasn’t unpleasant, per se, but more awkward. He took a deep breath, and it was gone.

“…Alright, let’s go.” Everyone nodded with smiles on their face.

“It’s just around the block, yeah?” Ryuji double-checked, with Akira nodding.

They arrived soon, ringing the doorbell at the gate. When there was no response, Akira raised an eyebrow.

“Sojiro’s usually home by this point…” He pushed the gate, and it opened up.

“It’s unlocked…?” Ann muttered.

Akira’s face immediately hardened.

“Sky, status report.”

Everyone tensed. Code names were only used when they were in the Metaverse or when they acted as the Phantom Thieves. Hikaru nodded in response, eyes glowing in the moonlight. Merlin’s floor scan gave him only one reading, in the living room. Other than that, no one. No sign of forced entry.

“Someone’s in the living room, but it doesn’t seem to be broken into. If anything, I think it’s Futaba in there.”

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. At least it wasn’t a thief or murderer.

“Well, should we still go in?”

The weather made the choice for them. It began raining heavily, herding the Thieves into Sojiro’s house for shelter. Hikaru grumbled as they all squeezed under the small amount of shade in front of the door. Akira knocked on the door, and once again, it was unlocked. Akira hummed, mouth drawing tight.

“Umm…Sorry for the intrusion…” Makoto said shyly, opening the door and entering.

The lights were all off, the only source of light being the TV down the hall. Hikaru closed his eyes, letting out a breath.

“This is creepy…” Ann shuddered, hands clinging onto Hikaru’s arm. “Sorry about this, Hikaru…”

Hikaru blushed slightly but nodded. “No prob.” At least it was dark enough that nobody noticed the flush on his cheeks.

It began storming, thunder striking. Hikaru felt Ann tremble every time a loud noise banged outside. He reached a hand out to rest on her hands, and he felt a shaky breath by his ear.

“Thanks.”

Another strike of thunder. The TV went silent, and everyone froze. Everything went dark. Hikaru scanned again, and the reading was slowly approaching them. He tried looking down the corridor, but he could barely see anything. He took a step back regardless.

“Did the power cut?” Ryuji looked around, more confused than shocked.

“We shouldn’t stay…let’s just head back to the café,” Yusuke suggested.

“…Please,” Makoto pleaded softly, eyes tightly shut. She was clinging onto Akira tightly, legs shaking.

“Then let’s go.”

Another loud strike, and light flashed in the hall. Behind Akira and Makoto was a figure, a head shorter than Akira. All they could see was a pair of glasses and long, flowing hair.

Makoto screamed. The figure screamed. Ann screamed. Maybe Ryuji screamed, but nobody knows.

The figure bolted up the stairs, rushing past Ryuji and Hikaru. They heard a loud slam of the door, and the front door burst open.

“Futaba! Are you all right?!” Sojiro yelled, eyes sharpening. “Who the hell’s there?! I’ll call the cops!”

The lights flashed on again, and there was Akira, barely holding onto Makoto. The president herself was on her knees, holding onto Akira where she could, muttering over and over again “sorry, sorry, save me please.”

“Akira?” Said teen gave the café owner an awkward smile.

“Hey, Sojiro.”

Makoto quickly composed herself, seeing Sojiro in front of her. She took a deep, shaky breath, but bowed nonetheless. The only sign that she was the same person who just collapsed out of fear was her stuttering voice. “S-sorry for int-intruding, but the door was unlocked…”

“That one was probably my bad, but are you two…” Sojiro gestured to the distance between them, or more the lack thereof. Makoto yelped and jumped away, her face turning bright red.

“N-no, we’re just friends…” Makoto stammered out. At this point, the others were hidden from view by the stairs, silently laughing at their leaders’ situation. Akira noticed that, glaring at them from his peripheral.

Ann decided to spare him. “We’re here too, Boss.”

“All of you? What are all of you doing here?”

“We wanted to pass to you some leftover sushi we had, but when we arrived, the gate was open, and the door was unlocked…”

Sojiro groaned. “Not again…” he said to himself.

“Boss, there’s something I would like to ask.” Sojiro met Makoto’s gaze. “There’s someone else living here, right? I think I might have startled her, so I would like to apologize properly. Futaba, you said?”

“…Yeah. Come over to the café, I’ll explain there.”

~~~

Sojiro explained everything about Futaba, until it was late into the night. He left details out, but enough that everyone didn’t exactly need to read the report he made at Alibaba, or, well, Futaba’s request.

“That’s horrible…” Ann said to herself.

“So she’s been alone all this while?” Makoto asked, the concern barely hidden.

“Sadly, yeah. I try to help, but I have no idea what to do. Anytime I try to get doctors over, she has an anxiety attack and starts panicking. I think that might’ve been what got her to lock herself in. I thought it would help but…” Sojiro let out a sad chuckle.

“Can we try?” Akira asked, and Sojiro raised an eyebrow.

“At this point, sure… I thought I knew what to do but look where that led to. You guys would have a better idea of what to do than I would.”

So they waited until the next day. After school, they gathered in Leblanc to discuss what they knew. Sojiro ushered them to the attic, where everyone made themselves comfortable.

“I checked yesterday after you all left, Futaba does have a Palace. All I have is ‘Futaba Sakura’, and ‘Sojiro Sakura’s house’,” Akira informed.

“How does that work, by the way?” Ann asked. “Don’t only bad people have a Palace?”

“Not quite,” Morgana chimed from the bed, “you only need a strong distorted desire. Morality doesn’t matter, but most distorted desires come from corruption, which makes most people we meet bad.”

“So Futaba feels so much guilt that her desires are warped?” Yusuke asked, Morgana nodding. “Truly tragic.”

“Well, I don’t think there’s a point in asking, but this is unanimous, right?” Everyone nodded.

“Well, then let’s go, Phantom Thieves. We’ll have to find out about Futaba’s distortion, and who better than Futaba herself?”

They gathered around Futaba’s door, with Makoto and Akira at the front. Makoto knocked gently. “Futaba?”

No response.

“Futaba, can you hear me? We would like to talk to you.”

No response again. Makoto took a deep breath and tried again.

“Alibaba?”

Akira’s phone pinged. He pulled it out and saw it was a message from an unknown number.

**_PM: A - > AK_ **

**_A:_ ** _Why are you here?_

“We wanted to ask you something, to help with your change of heart.”

**_A:_ ** _I thought I told all of you to forget about it._

“We have no other way of handling Medjed. We’ve decided that we will help you, and you can help us with Medjed. And plus, after hearing your story, we just wanted to help…”

**_A:_ ** _Don’t bother. It won’t make a difference._

**_A:_ ** _It’s not going to change anything…_

Akira stopped Makoto, taking her place. “And how do you know that for sure?”

**_A:_ ** _Because I will die here._

“Die?!” Ryuji’s eyes widened.

**_A:_ ** _There is no escape. I tried. But I will die here._

“But Sojiro wants to help you, we want to help you. We’ll free you from all of this.”

**_A:_ ** _I don’t want to hope._

**_A:_ ** _But please…_

**_A:_ ** _I don’t want to die…_

“You won’t, Futaba. Not if we can help it.”

**_A:_ ** _Hurry…_

**_A:_ ** _Save me from this nightmare._

Hikaru pulled out his phone, a somber look on his face. He turned on the Metaverse Navigator.

“Futaba Sakura.”

_Match found._

“Sojiro Sakura’s house.”

_Match found._

Hikaru made eye contact with Akira, who frowned. Hikaru let out a deep sigh, eyes not meeting anyone else’s.

“…Tomb.”

_Match found. Beginning navigation._

_~~~_

The strong winds of the desert swirled around the Thieves under the hot sun. The sand dunes stretched as far as the eye could see, with only a small glint of light appearing at the horizon. There was nothing nearby; no Shadows, no large Palace, nothing. If they didn’t know better, it could’ve been just as easily assumed that they were teleported to the Sahara or something.

“We’re…in the Metaverse, right?” Ann looked around. The only indicator this was true was that Mona was in his Metaverse form. They weren’t even in their Thief outfits.

“There’s nothing for ages! How big is this place?!” Ryuji yelled into the distance. He had climbed up a small sand hill, looking around.

“I guess we can try to go to that small glint of light?” Makoto suggested. “I don’t think there’s anywhere else that makes sense.”

“Well, Mona, do the thing.” Mona nodded, jumping into the air and transforming into the bus. Everyone ushered in, with Makoto and Hikaru at the front.

As the car drove silently through the desert, everyone was suffering. The desert was hot, and it seems it was the same even in the Metaverse. Hikaru groaned at the heat, pulling off his short-sleeved hoodie. His school shirt was stuck onto his back. He ran a hand through his damp hair, sweat trickling down the back of his neck.

“Yo, is there really no AC?” Ryuji groaned from the back.

“Ryuji, please stop moving around,” Akira pleaded, “you’re sweaty and all that shit.”

“Hikaru, how far are we?” Makoto asked, not taking her eyes off the desert.

“I can’t make an accurate estimate without Merlin’s full power, but probably a solid half-hour? Maybe less? A half-hour at most.” Hikaru shut his eyes and slid down the seat, groaning at the heat. “Plus, I can’t concentrate enough with the fucking heat.”

“This should help.” A cool breeze began blowing in through the window, chilling the interior. A gentle layer of frost surrounded Mona’s windows, drastically reducing the temperature of the car.

“I personally don’t feel warm at all, but it might be due to the innate temperature balance I have.” Yusuke blew a cold stream of air onto Ryuji, who was lying at the back across Akira, who looked like he wanted to die.

“Thanks a bunch, Yusuke…” Ryuji groaned, not moving at all.

“Definitely a lot better.” Makoto nodded her thanks.

The rest of the ride was quiet, with Hikaru humming a tune while he tried to scan as much as he could of their surroundings. Everything in his range was just sand, with the start of what looked like a town at the far edge. And in the middle of town was a pyramid, reflecting that point of light they saw earlier.

They arrived at the base of the pyramid, noticing that the town itself was quite barren. There were no living signals at all. It was almost creepy.

“Well,” Akira looked up at the giant pyramid in front of them, “this certainly is going to be a pain in the ass.”

“One way to put it. I can already guess there’s going to be some Indiana Jones level of bullshit, and I haven’t even scanned the place,” Hikaru said from beside him.

“Wanna bet?”

“Do you really want to take that?”

“Focus.” Makoto placed a hand on both their shoulders. “We’re here for Futaba. Let’s see what we can find.”

“Lead the way, Queen.”

Makoto walked at the front, with Hikaru and Akira close behind. Ryuji, Ann, and Yusuke followed along, with Mona watching their backs. However, considering that they haven’t changed into their Metaverse outfits, they weren’t exactly subtle with their entrance.

The interior was cool, air-conditioned. Ryuji let out a breath of relief, leaning over onto Ann, who shoved him off. Along the tall granite walls, however, were codes, symbols, and other hieroglyphs. They popped out in neon green, making the interior seem like a high-tech pyramid than anything.

“She sees the house as a pyramid, a safe space, and unhabitable outside?” Makoto wondered out loud.

“Something like that. The desert probably represents her subconscious attempt to put people far away from her, as she doesn’t want others to come close,” Mona replied.

“And we still aren’t in our Thief outfits, so we aren’t perceived as threats yet, yes?” Yusuke asked, and Hikaru nodded.

“Anything can change in a moment, however, so watch out.”

Akira hummed. He stopped at the base of the large staircase leading upwards into the pyramid. “Hikaru?”

“Large reading ahead. It’s Futaba.”

“Time to confront her, I guess.”

They made their way up the stairs without much rush. It was a long stairway, and Hikaru did a scan every few steps. The walls beside them contained chambers, and he counted a total of three before they reached the end.

“You made it.” Futaba’s Shadow materialized before the group. It was the first time they got a true look at Futaba’s appearance. She had long, straight orange hair, round glasses, and a thin body, borderline skinny. Her Shadow was dressed in Egyptian robes, with a golden headdress, crowning her as the ruler of the Palace. The Shadow’s voice was ominous but gentle.

“Where’s your Treasure?” Akira stepped forward and asked.

“Behind this door. But it won’t be that simple. You would have to…” Futaba trailed off. Her voice distorted, a staticky noise erupting from the walls around them. The Shadow’s eyes widened, and she collapsed, clutching her head.

_“You…you killed me, Futaba!”_

Hikaru grimaced, feeling the loud voice echo in his mind. Everyone didn’t seem to hear anything, judging by their concerned expressions for Futaba.

“Futaba!” Akira reached out to try to stabilize her, but Futaba slapped his hand away.

“No, it’s too late.” Blue flames surrounded the Thieves, replacing their clothes with their Thief attire. Futaba’s eyes watered, her voice catching in her throat. “I will die here for my sins. No one will interrupt me.”

Futaba vanished into blue light, right in front of their eyes.

The walls around them groaned, sliding open at the ceiling to allow a large, round boulder to fall. The Thieves leaped back, watching as the boulder slowly inched forward.

“…Oh, fuck me.”

The boulder began rolling forward, with the Thieves panicking as they ran down the stairway. Joker leaped off the end of the stairwell, ripping his mask off. “Iris! Psio!”

The feathered goddess waved her hands, but it did nothing to deter the boulder’s speed. She clicked her tongue, vanishing back onto Joker’s mask.

“Out of the way, Joker!”

Skull shoved him back just as the boulder crashed onto the floor, leaving a huge gap in the clearing they entered from. Just as they were about to breathe a sigh of relief, the floor below them opened up, dropping all of them down into the basement.

“What the fuck!!”

Mona acted quickly, guiding the winds around them to slow their descent, avoiding the large pit of what seemed to be quicksand at their feet. With some help from Joker, they landed safely right beside the pit.

“Damn, that was…something,” Sky got out in the middle of panting. Everyone took a moment to catch their breath.

“Why did she even do that? Didn’t she want us to steal her heart?!” Skull yelled in confusion.

“It’s probably the same thing as the desert. She wants help, but can’t help but push people away when they get too close.” Sky said solemnly, channeling Merlin’s ability across the entire Palace. He kneeled down on a knee, resting his gloved palms on the floor. They began to glow a soft blue, and in a moment, they were gone.

Sky waved a hand, and a holographic pyramid structure formed in front of them. They seemed to be under the pyramid and had to take a path to get to the exterior that they came from.

“Alright, let’s get out of here, and then we can see how we can get back in.”

“Roger that, Sky.”

Time to get to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Into the best Palace we go.


	25. The Pain of Guilt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where Hikaru becomes debatably OP.

Sky stayed silent as he leaped up another sarcophagus, slinging his rifle into his hands. He took a deep breath, squeezing the trigger on the exhale. It flew across the chamber with a loud snap, piercing through the skull of the Shadow mummy at the opposite side of the room. The Shadow let out an anguished cry, melting into black goo and vanishing. Fox was beside him, trying to get long-range picks as well as he could with an assault rifle.

“Fox, two down a level, watch Skull.” They were providing long-range support, seeing as Joker wanted to conserve Fox’s strong wide-range ice magic for emergencies. Mona, Skull, and Panther were with their leader, while Queen, Fox, and Sky stayed at the top of the area, watching them while Joker made sure to loot the place thoroughly.

Queen served as close-range support if needed, but almost no Shadows wandered in their direction, mostly distracted by the main group running amok at the bottom levels.

“Fox,” Queen warned. A Shadow had spotted them, running towards them with its hand awkwardly raised. Queen rushed over to it, leaping onto its shoulders, and ripped off its mask, much like how Joker did it.

The Shadow melted, forming into four women with a human torso and snake tails. Fox clicked his tongue, flinging his mask off with an uncaring expression.

“Be encased in eternal ice. Goemon!” The Persona slammed its foot, cold winds blowing out of its pipe. The winds flash froze the Lamias, leaving behind statues of ice.

“Blow them apart, Johanna!” The motorbike revved its engine, nuclear energy gathering and blasting into the middle of the statues. With a loud roar, the ice shattered into shards too small to notice.

“Nice job, both of you,” Sky remarked, not taking his eyes off the other group. “Hey, Queen, want to practice long-range magic casting?”

“I suppose.” She charged Johanna’s magic and launched a beam of nuclear energy towards a mummy Shadow, it dissolving with a loud screech.

“Nice shot, but maybe a bit less lethal?” Sky stared at the lack of remains. “I think you actually just killed every last bit of it.”

“Isn’t that the point, though?”

“Not if we’re aiming that at a living being. Plus, we’re not supposed to torch the Palace rulers.”

“Fair enough, I guess. I’ll work on it.”

Joker leaped up onto the ledge opposite of where they were. Fox conjured an ice bridge for them to slide over, saving the trouble of going all the way down and climbing up all over again.

“Fox’s magic is really pretty,” Panther remarked, watching the bridge slowly shatter into shards that were carried by the small breeze. It looked like the air itself was sparkling.

“Joker, strong reading to the left, the way out on the right. The left will lead us to the inside of the pyramid, so we’ll have to get past him regardless.”

Joker peeked the corner to see a large Shadow, waiting in the clearing for intruders. He hummed, leading the Thieves the other way, out of the pyramid for now. They groaned as they re-entered the stifling heat of the desert.

“Aw, fuck, I forgot about this…” Ryuji grumbled.

“There’s no safe room nearby, so I guess we’ll have to discuss here. In the heat. Fox, Mona?”

The heat around them warped, cold winds and strong breezes forming a temporary zone where the heat couldn’t get them.

“So how’s everyone?” Joker started.

“Vitals are all fine. Fox’s a bit tired though, large amounts of casting can do that to people.” Sky pulled the map back out, enlarging it so that the Thieves could stand around it.

“The front door is blocked, probably after we fell through. It seems to unlock via some sort of light mechanism, but we’ll have to explore to find out what, exactly.”

“So we follow this path?” Queen asked, pointing at the path from earlier that contained the strong Shadow.

“There’s nowhere else to go, so yeah. It’s our only way to enter the pyramid.” Sky glanced across the entire map. “At least it seems we can rest easy about Akechi.”

“It would be almost impossible for him to be here, since he has no idea who Futaba even is,” Joker guessed. “If that’s all, and everyone’s fine, we can get started. Everyone okay?”

“Yes, sir,” Ann did a mock salute, drawing out a few chuckles.

“Alright. Panther, Skull, and Mona with me. I’ll leave our flanks to you and Fox, Queen.”

“Understood, Joker.”

~~~

“Readings are off the chart, but there’s a whole seven of us, so it shouldn’t be that bad, right?”

Oh, how wrong he was.

“Why can’t this thing-” Skull grunted, swinging his mace against the solid, smooth rock of the Shadow’s sarcophagus, “-just die already!”

“Skull, back off!” The front liner leaped back at Mona’s command. Large gusts of wind surrounded the coffin, the Shadow inside letting out a grunt of pain as the sharp winds threatened to rip the coffin wide open.

“Joker!” Sky shouted, Merlin waving his staff behind him. The leader charged to the front, mask glowing. He pulled it off just as Mona’s winds forced the sarcophagus open, allowing him to get a direct hit onto the bony Shadow within.

“Clotho, Kouga!” Blinding light flashed across the sky, gathering together and blasting towards the Shadow in the form of a beam. The Shadow cried in pain but forced its coffin shut once again, knocking Joker back. He landed on his feet with a somersault, right beside Skull.

“Incoming Curse attack!” The Shadow reached a hand out, wiggling its fingers. The air became heavy, tinted red as everything dimmed. Everyone braced themselves as the screams began.

The wailing of spirits could be heard as they rushed at every member of the Phantom Thieves, leaving cuts and burns where they struck. Sky grunted, feeling himself fall onto a knee as a spirit rushed through his body.

Joker was the first to recover, once again summoning Clotho to dispel the curse around his teammates. With a stroke of its yarn, holy light gathered around the Thieves, blasting back the shadows and healing the damage done. “Queen, Skull, Fox!” Joker called.

The three strongest attackers of the team rushed forward, laying strong physical and magical attacks against the Shadow. It wailed as the attacks never ended, not giving it a chance to retaliate. Every time it tried to knock one back, another would take its place, giving it no time to breathe.

“One last rush!” Sky cried. A wave of energy was infused into the four front liners, and they rushed with renewed vigor. Their attacks began chipping off the stone coffin until all that was left was just the Shadow. It growled but couldn’t do anything as Joker shot it in the head with his pistol.

And it was gone. Skull slumped onto the floor with relief, panting heavily. “Fucking finally!” He exclaimed.

“Panther, Mona,” Sky gestured. They nodded, healing magic prepared in their hands. Mona created a field under the entire group, where gentle light enveloped them and cured their wounds. Panther went around and took care of any major issues, such as burns or deep wounds.

“We should be able to get further into the pyramid past the first door. It’s right ahead, so let’s go. After that, we can stop for the day. I think we’re all appropriately exhausted.” Joker agreed with Sky’s suggestion, and they continued their exploration.

There was not much in the chamber, with a huge mirror in the middle and a crossbow buried in sand being the only things present. It was reflecting a ray of light into the wall across the room. But other than that, it seemed like they were at a dead end. There was no path for them to continue on, so the Thieves spread out to look around.

“Guys, what’s that?” Panther yelled, pointing over to what looked like a platform across from her. She was by where the light shone, and Joker tilted his head. He exited the room, and climbed up a ledge to the side. Slowly sneaking his way towards the platform, he found it to be a button on it, and in total curiosity, pushed it.

A loud creaking caught their attention. Sky had half a moment to react when he saw the bow pull its ballista back slightly.

“Panther, out of the way!”

The girl leaped off the platform just in time as the bow launched its arrow, destroying the part of the wall where the light was hitting. Now with nothing in its way, the light hit the main door by the front chamber, unlocking the door and opening it.

Panther took a deep breath of relief, Queen by her side checking for any wounds.

“My bad, I should’ve said something before pressing it!” Joker apologized sheepishly, earning him a glare from Panther.

“Holy shit, Joker, I almost got impaled by a huge ass arrow!” Joker had the decency to look embarrassed.

“But that seemed to open up a path for us, so let us continue.” Fox leaped up onto the platform and looked through the hole the arrow made. “It seems that this leads back to the main stairway.”

“The light should’ve unlocked a door,” Sky informed as he made his way up towards everyone else, Joker by his side. “It gives us access to new chambers, which’ll allow us to unlock the next door, and so forth. That’s how we’re going to progress.”

“That’s just a bit annoying,” Panther grumbled.

“This time, we’re going to have to go through the entire pyramid to get to the Treasure. There isn’t any other way. Plus, it gives us a good image of how Futaba’s mental is.” The Phantom Thieves leaped off the ledge, slowly jumping from pillar to pillar back to the main foyer of the pyramid.

“There should be a safe room up ahead.” Mona jumped onto Sky’s shoulder, keeping his eyes peeled for any sort of distortion. They were given access to a stretch of the stairs, with two doors at the end of the path. One was distorted slightly: a safe room, while the other lead to the next chamber to unlock the door.

“I think we can stop here,” Joker suggested, and no one objected to that. They were all tired, especially after fighting that Mot defending the passageway.

“Alright then, let’s get out of here.”

~~~

Hikaru suppressed a yawn, Ann next to him doing the same.

Principal Kobayakawa has been going on and on about school policy, mental health, and other topics for about two hours at this point. He stopped listening by the 15-minute mark.

“Hey, do you think anyone’s listening to the principal?” Ann leaned over to whisper. Hikaru rolled his eyes.

_“You know you don’t have to whisper, right? I can just read your thoughts?”_

Ann blanked for a moment. A sheepish smile grew on her face.

_Oh, yeah…Forgot about that._

Hikaru sighed, looking back towards Kobayakawa but not paying attention. The principal was sweating profusely, looking nervous as he glanced around the entire hall. He stammered constantly, hands shaking.

“Why?” Hikaru whispered to himself. He attempted to read Kobayakawa’s mind from his position, but it was too much of a mess. Confused thoughts, sentences and words in total disarray, it seemed like Kobayakawa barely had a coherent thought throughout his speech.

Something was wrong.

After the assembly, they were free to go home. It is summer vacation, and they wanted everyone to enjoy their break. Akira had asked that they take a day off from Futaba’s Palace, since he wanted to make sure their equipment was well-prepared. Therefore, Hikaru had the afternoon off.

“Hey, Makoto, are you doing anything later?”

The student council president raised an eyebrow but shook her head. Sae wasn’t going to be home until night, as usual, leaving her day free.

“Can you come with me? I need to ask Kobayakawa some questions.”

“…Sure thing.”

The two of them made their way towards the principal’s office. Hikaru knocked and entered when given permission.

“Aozora-san, Niijima-san, what can I do for you today?” His shaky eyes gave away his nervousness.

“Principal, Niijima-san and I were concerned for your wellbeing.” He said all of this with a straight face, making his intentions clear. “You seemed to be extremely nervous on stage, and we wanted to know as students closely involved in the school if there was anything wrong.”

The principal stayed silent, mouth falling open slightly.

“Principal?” Makoto piped up from beside Hikaru. “Aozora-kun is right. You’ve been acting strangely for the past few days, and as students of Shujin, I believe our worries are justified.”

“…It is of no matter to you two, just a personal matter of mine,” he replied dismissively. Hikaru turned to Makoto, who nodded.

“Do forgive me if I am overstepping my boundaries, but I find it strange that such issues would cause you such concern. Shouldn’t you, as the principal, maintain a sense of professionalism and keep a good work-life balance?” Makoto’s eyes locked onto Kobayakawa’s. “You are our principal, sir. It is important for students to have a strong leader, especially during trying times like these.”

“Don’t tell me how to do my job!” The principal yelled. The two students didn’t flinch, but instead sharpened their gaze, making the principal’s anger falter.

“…It is truly just a small issue. I’m sorry to have concerned you two, the star students of our school, but it is nothing noteworthy.” Hikaru sneaked another glance at Makoto, who had a neutral expression. They both didn’t believe it, but it seemed that they couldn’t do much here.

“…If you say so, sir.” Hikaru and Makoto left, and Kobayakawa let out a heavy sigh of relief. This was bad, this was bad. The director would surely not allow this, and he’s already messed up so much. He jumped as his phone rang, and he flinched as he saw the contact info.

“…Hello, sir.”

_“What do you have for me? It’d better be something, unlike that bullshit last time.”_

“About that, sir, I have found a lead. I just need time to pursue it, and the Phantom Thieves will be yours.”

 _“That’s what you said last time.”_ Kobayakawa flinched, cold sweat gathering by the nape of his thick neck.

“I assure you, it is highly probable this time!”

_“…You have one more chance, Kobayakawa. Need I remind you what will happen if you fail?”_

“Of course not, sir. However, I must warn you of something…”

_“…Hmm? What is it?”_

“Two students seem to be suspicious of my actions, and I wanted to make sure that no loose ends will be present…”

 _“…How incompetent are you?!”_ the voice roared. Kobayakawa shuddered, eyes immediately blowing wide in panic.

“There is nothing to worry about yet! I just wanted to make sure that they weren’t an issue…”

_“How badly did you fuck up that fucking children are on your tail?! I swear, this lead better be the one, or you’re done.”_

Kobayakawa whimpered as the call cut. He slumped onto his desk, terrified out of his mind.

~~~

“Things are looking bad, Queen. We’ll need to inform Joker.”

“Understood, Sky.”

“We have a huge conspiracy in our hands. We have to be careful with how we move.”

~~~

**_The Adults_ **

**_AK:_ ** _this is a problem._

**_AK:_ ** _if kobayakawa wants to sniff us out and hand us to some sort of higher authority, then the school isn’t safe for us_

**_MN:_ ** _Considering the amount of police activity already after the Kamoshida case, it’s already unsafe._

**_MN:_ ** _But who knows how far up this chain goes? What’s at the top?_

**_HA:_ ** _makoto, you mentioned that kobayakawa was the one who got u to look into the pts, right_

**_MN:_ ** _Yes. He wanted me to find out who they were, almost immediately after Madarame had a change of heart._

**_HA:_ ** _if they were after the ability to change hearts, then wouldn’t they start asking immediately after kamoshida confessed?_

**_MN:_ ** _That is true…_

**_AK:_ ** _are you saying that they have some connection to Madarame?_

**_HA:_ ** _most likely_

**_HA:_ ** _however, if they had madarame or even kaneshiro as a conspirator or collaborator, then these are powerful people_

**_HA:_ ** _who knows who else they could have under their thumb_

**_AK:_ ** _couldn’t we just be overthinking this? our popularity only became big after Madarame, so that’s when they paid attention to us?_

**_MN:_ ** _I think so as well. Maybe this has nothing to do with us at all, and we’re being paranoid._

**_HA:_ ** _but the fact that kobayakawa is looking for the thieves is still there_

**_HA:_ ** _id prefer being paranoid then getting the rug swept from under us_

**_MN:_ ** _That’s true as well…_

**_AK:_ ** _let’s say that this is worst case scenario, alright_

**_AK:_ ** _someone at the top of the social ladder is out to get us, for some reason_

**_AK:_ ** _it still doesn’t change our goal currently_

**_AK:_ ** _we still need to help Futaba, and deal with Medjed_

**_AK:_ ** _theyre threatening the whole of Japan, it’s only right we do something to stop them_

**_MN:_ ** _…I had a thought._

**_HA:_ ** _go on_

**_MN:_ ** _What if Akechi is somehow involved in this?_

**_AK:_ ** _Akechi?_

**_MN:_ ** _We know that Akechi has to be the one going around instigating mental shutdowns, due to the lack of any other possibilities, as well as him being the head in the cases._

**_MN:_ ** _Kobayakawa himself had said that he wanted to give us to whoever was on that call. They would probably want us jailed at least for interrupting their operations, but they can’t convict us without hard evidence, right?_

**_MN:_ ** _The only one who could get all of that would be Akechi, the sole person who has access to the Metaverse._

**_MN:_ ** _Naturally, won’t it be right to assume that Akechi is either helping, or even working for, whoever’s the mastermind here?_

**_AK:_ ** _…shit u right_

**_HA:_ ** _oh damn_

**_HA:_ ** _kira u know the man best what do u think_

**_AK:_ ** _i hate to say it but the prez has a point_

**_AK:_ ** _a really good one_

**_AK:_ ** _add on a motive and its a perfect point_

**_MN:_ ** _This is all assuming that it is someone at the top, and that Hikaru’s claims were true, of course._

**_AK:_ ** _well, keep this in mind in case you notice anything around school_

**_HA:_ ** _im more worried about everyone else, especially ann and ryuji_

**_HA:_ ** _if they follow the pt hype, who knows how easily theyll fall for such a trap_

**_MN:_ ** _It is very unsettling…I’ll try to get them to tone down if I can. The last thing we need is another slip of the tongue like last time._

**_AK:_ ** _ill give them a reminder as well_

**_HA:_ ** _ill see what i can do in terms of investigating this_

**_AK:_ ** _don’t go too deep, or people will be suspicious_

**_HA:_ ** _gotcha_

~~~

“Two on your left, Fox!”

A blast of cold ice froze the Lamias solid, both of them letting out shrieks as the frost grew across their body. He leaped across the frozen area, drawing his sword to slice apart the frozen half-snakes.

The ice was cut cleanly, the statues collapsing into chunks of ice that crumbled into dust. Fox let out a huff, not noticing the Anzu rushing towards him for attacking its friends.

The Anzu let out a screech, flapping its wings to gather a Garula attack, but was interrupted by a loud crack, and a bullet pierced its left wing. It tilted off-balance, the gathering winds dissipating. It growled, but took another bullet to the other wing, and fell to the ground.

Sky let out a huff, firing a final bullet to finish off the Anzu. He had only one more magazine of bullets, and they were only halfway through the Chamber of Guilt. Looking over to the side, Mona was about done with the group of Sandmen he faced, making quick work of them. He turned and gave a cat’s equivalent of a thumbs up and a wink.

Sky hovered a hand on his temple, contacting everyone else.

_“We’re about done here. Everything fine over there?”_

_We’re managing. Wouldn’t mind if you showed up, though._

_All’s fine here! We’ve got another code as well!_

_“Come back over here, and we can input it and see what happens. Another set of lights appeared, so I’m guessing we have two codes. That means this should be the last.”_

They had decided that in order to save time, they would split up into groups to divide the large chamber into bits. It made exploration a lot more efficient, considering Futaba’s request. They decided this after listening to more of Futaba’s past, learning about the suicide note and her mental instability.

Joker had suggested they quickly get past this Palace as they could, since it would help Futaba ground herself. It would also shed light on the whole situation itself, which would give Futaba as well as the Phantom Thieves the closure they needed to move on.

That led to this strategy. They had split into three groups, each with a healer with them. Joker was with Panther, Queen with Skull, and Fox, Sky, and Mona together. The trio was at the main room, clearing it of Shadows and inputting whatever codes that the rest found.

_“Oh, Skull and Queen, watch out on your way back. You can wait for Joker and Panther, they’re about done with their area. There’s some Shadows on the way back, so don’t get surprised.”_

_Roger that._

_Gotcha!_

Sky sighed, highlighting a path on a mental screen, and sent the image over to the two pairs. It didn’t take long for the rest to meet up with them, each boasting about their accomplishments.

“Yeah? I took down three whole Sandmen in one hit!”

“I got Joker a Treasure Demon!”

Sky growled. “We get it, children, you’re both pretty. Now, the code?”

The two blondes blushed in embarrassment, Skull letting out nervous chuckles. Queen sighed, moving over to input the code. She went along the sides, turning some of the consoles off, and some on. After the final one, the whole chamber shook. The loud sound of boulders rolling could be heard, all of them peeking out around the side.

“The boulders are gone, so we can access the area behind it now, yes?” Fox remarked. The Thieves found that indeed, the path that Futaba led them to was now clear, and they could enter the door at the back.

It led them back to above the Great Corridor, with another scrambled mural and reflective mural pointing backwards. They flipped the images and moved them accordingly, forming…a terrifying image.

“This is…” Panther whispered.

“It’s the moment her mother died,” Joker said grimly.

 _“Futaba!”_ A loud crash. A final glance, face scrunched in pain. Sky felt himself trembling.

It hit too close to home.

In his mind, the image of Futaba’s mother was replaced by a blonde woman with sharp, blue eyes. A kind smile, soft facial features. A long, white dress, smeared with red.

His mother.

_~~~_

_“Hikaru, don’t run around!”_

_Hikaru ignored his mother, running to get the ball that he had kicked a bit too far. His father wasn’t there that day, being stuck in a meeting with executives. His mother had waved off the guards, deciding that “it was just around the corner, if anything happens we can yell”._

_It was hard to get privacy with her son, especially on such a good day as this. A perfect day for a picnic. Hikaru had brought his favorite ball, the one his grandfather had gifted him on his seventh birthday._

_He had kicked it a bit too hard, the ball rolling down the small hill that they were on. It rolled onto the main highway, and Hikaru, unknowingly, followed it. There, just as he grabbed it, a loud honking noise came directly behind him. He turned around and couldn’t move, seeing the large silver truck speeding towards him._

_“Hikaru!”_

_A loud crash, a scream of agony. Hikaru was stunned, feeling his body get shoved out of the way._

_“…?”_

_He slowly turned his head and paled at what he saw. His mother was flung across the street, the truck skidding onto the sidewalk. A few screams of horror from people around the area. Someone immediately grabbed their phone, calling an ambulance._

_His mother’s regal dress was torn, tattered. Blood covered a good portion of it, the other the oil and grime of the truck. Hikaru crawled over, tears gathering in his eyes._

_“…Mom…?”_

_His voice was soft, almost silent. His mother tilted her head over, a sad smile on her face._

_“I’m sorry, Hikaru…” She let out a bloody cough, gathering more tears in Hikaru’s eyes. He shook his head, wiping away the tears in his eyes._

_“No, I’m sorry, Mom! I’m the one…” She laid a hand on his cheek, wiping away his tears that threatened to flow once again._

_“Listen, my sky. You are the one I care about the most…Don’t let this weigh you down, alright? You should be free…” His mother’s eyes became unfocused, one last cough shuddering through her body. She looked back up at the blue sky, not a single cloud above their heads._

_“Ah, it’s a beautiful day today…Hikaru, promise me you’ll be okay, that nothing will hold you back.” Her eyelids began to close._

_“I promise, I promise, so don’t go!”_

_Hikaru didn’t know how long he stayed there, his mother dying in his arms. The world had melted into a blur, the only thing going through his mind being denial._

_“No, no, no, no…” he had muttered to himself._

_At some point, an ambulance had arrived, but it was too late. Hikaru’s eyes dulled as his mother laid unmoving, the emergency unit trying their best to resuscitate her. Nothing worked._

_That night, his father learned the truth. There was no warm family dinner, there was nothing. Hikaru had shut himself in his room, with the staff bringing him dinner and gently knocking. Then they left._

_It wasn’t for a few days before he felt fine enough to try going out. He saw the painting of his mother in the living room and collapsed in tears. Guilt ran through his veins, reminding him of the sin that cost his mother her life._

_Why was he so dumb? Why didn’t he listen?_

~~~

“…Sky?”

Joker had noticed Sky freezing after the mural was revealed. Everyone did, to be fair, but he noticed his shaking hands, mouth slightly open. It was more than shock at the events that happened.

While the others were discussing what happened, he approached Sky.

The navigator was shaking, tears beginning to fall under his goggles. Joker gently lifted them up, revealing the dull blue eyes of the heir. Everyone turned around at Joker’s worried tone and immediately tried to gather around the trembling navigator.

A bright light, and Futaba reappeared. She approached Sky, and surprising everyone, pulled him into a hug.

“This curse is not one I would wish upon anyone, no matter the sin…” She whispered, sympathy lacing her tone. “I’m so sorry…”

“She…” was all Sky muttered, knees buckling and slumping onto the limestone floor. Joker caught him before he fell, holding him up.

“…The one thing I can do for you is ease your suffering. I will seal off the memories that haunt you forever…” Hikaru stiffened, flinching away from Futaba’s touch.

“No! Stay away!” He leaned further into Joker’s embrace, fear in his blue eyes.

Futaba was confused. “Why would you prefer to suffer? With this, there will be no suffering from past memories. I wish to do the same to myself, but alas, memories will remain locked in my mind…”

“She’s the one thing I’ll never forget! I don’t care how much it hurts, she’s the one keeping me going!” Futaba gasped, taking a step back.

“…You would suffer, even if there is salvation? Are you mad?!”

“If it meant that the truth is in my mind, yes! I swore to myself not to fear the past, not to let anything cloud the truth any further!”

_“Well said, Young Master.”_

Merlin engulfed Sky in blue flames, book open. Strange symbols surrounded the Thieves, but they felt comforted by the inscriptions. The chains around Merlin shattered, and the Persona began emitting a bright light, brighter than anything they have seen.

“What the heck is this?!” Panther yelled, shielding her eyes.

“A Second Awakening?!” Mona responded.

“Ours’ weren’t so bright or powerful!”

When the light died down, the Persona behind Sky was no longer Merlin, but another being. He had light blond hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a Greek-style toga. He stood on a golden chariot pulled by horses with flames as their manes, and carried a lyre in his hands, with a bow slung onto his back. The Persona played a tune, and soft, blue light surrounded Sky, giving him the strength to stand back up.

“I thank you for your offer, Futaba. But I must stay true to myself, no matter the cost. It is the promise I made to Merlin, no, Apollo, as well as the final vow I made to my mother.” The Persona smiled, a soft chorus erupting from Apollo’s lyre.

Futaba’s head was lowered, her hair covering her expression.

“Absolutely disgusting…” Her expression had returned to the stoic look that she had. She was no longer Futaba, the suffering and compassionate child, but Futaba, the ruler of this Palace. “Very well. If you believe this to be the best scenario, then please allow me to change your mind.”

Shadows appeared behind her, advancing onto the group. Apollo hummed, sliding his bow off his back. Light gathered at the tip of the arrow, forming what looked to be a star. Sky took a deep breath, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, his eyes were glowing a light yellow.

“Makouga!”

The Persona fired the arrow, hitting the Shadow in the middle. The light burst from the tip, blasting and instantly vaporizing the Shadows it came into contact with.

“Whoa, what the hell?!” Skull cursed, stumbling back.

By the time the light died, Futaba had vanished, leaving the Thieves alone in the chamber. Sky panted heavily, feeling Apollo’s attack drain whatever energy left in him. Joker was there to catch him as he stumbled.

“I got you, we’ll get out for now.”

“Thanks, Kira…” Joker nodded, sliding Sky onto his back. With Fox’s help, they lowered themselves down to the ground slowly, making their way out of the Palace.

~~~

After that Palace exploration, Hikaru decided to tell everyone everything. He owed it to them, especially considering his breakdown in the Palace. They deserved an explanation.

Everyone stayed silent while Hikaru explained everything, from head to tail. He kept his eyes on the table the entire time, not wanting to look up to see their betrayed expressions. He’s been lying all this time, he wouldn’t be surprised if this breaks them apart.

After he finished, he bit his lip, letting out a shaky breath.

“If you all decide you hate me, that’s fine-”

He was interrupted by Ryuji coming up and pulling him into a hug.

“You fucking idiot…” Ryuji held onto him tighter, his body shaking. Hikaru heard Ryuji’s sniffling, and felt the emotion he kept hidden begin to bubble up.

With Ryuji hugging him, his face was forced upwards. All he saw were empathetic looks, some even with tears in their eyes. But none of them had any hate or anger in their eyes, not even pity. Just pure compassion and love. Hikaru could no longer hold back his tears.

“I’m sorry…” He hid his face in Ryuji’s shoulder.

“No, we are. We knew you had some issues about your past, but we didn’t think that you’ve been holding all of this alone…” Ann came over and brought him in for a hug, and then Makoto did, and it resulted in a large group hug.

“I told you, didn’t I?” Akira said, taking a seat by Hikaru’s side. “No one here will judge you for anything. We’re all done with judging and being judged, that’s why we’re here.”

“Yeah, I guess. Thanks, Kira.” Akira rolled his eyes at the nickname but didn’t object.

“Kira? When did this happen?” Ann raised an eyebrow, a cheeky smirk on her face. Hikaru rolled his eyes, a smile on his face.

“I honestly think Akira’s trying to court me with half the things he says to me being total cheese.”

“I think he’s just like that, but who knows?”

“You’re special, baby,” Akira said with a straight face and a wink at the end.

Hikaru snorted. Ann cringed.

“You see what I mean?”

“Yeah. God, I feel like I’m in a romance anime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my solution to make sure Hikaru and Futaba don't overlap. We're getting another navigator, so we upgrade Hikaru to front-line. I say debatable OP, because of reasons that will be explained in the future.


	26. A Mother's Grief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm including a warning for Futaba again. The whole Palace is honestly a big warning. Doesn't mean it isn't my favorite, though.

“Full charge, Apollo!”

Joker shuddered as the Shadows around them were vaporized entirely by Apollo’s light. Futaba’s Palace was clearly not ready for Sky’s Second Awakening. At this point, they were making easy progress without even having to worry about exerting themselves.

Apollo’s Awakening had unlocked Sky’s combat abilities fully, allowing him to join the Thieves in full-on combat, as opposed to the long-range support role he was stuck in with Merlin. Now, with Apollo, it seems like both of those abilities were amped up.

Apollo’s navigation, or rather, foresight, made it almost too easy for them to avoid dangerous Shadows, or at least combat them without any worry. Should any of them take damage, Apollo’s healing abilities weren’t a joke either.

As of right now, the only downside they saw to all of this was that Apollo’s combative abilities were entirely separate from his navigation. If they needed directions or warnings, Sky would have to retreat entirely and gather information from a distance. He couldn’t charge up a Kougaon blast while predicting enemy attacks.

But that’s nothing compared to the sheer damage Apollo could dish out. Even Anubis, a strong Bless-based Persona, felt the effects of Apollo’s light. It wasn’t as taxing as they thought it was, since Sky’s exhaustion the day before was mostly from the Second Awakening itself.

Currently, all their new tactics were redesigned with possible alterations for Sky’s new abilities. Most relied on long-range support and attacks, like before, just with an increased damage output from Sky. Magically, Sky currently even outranks Joker, although he is limited in elemental variation. Joker was worried that Sky’s new abilities might shadow the rest, making them feel inferior or maybe not even relevant to their group.

“Hey, can I ride in Apollo’s chariot?”

Or maybe he was overthinking this. He watched with a content smile as Skull and Panther attempted to climb in Apollo’s chariot, the Persona not seeming to mind the extra passengers.

At least the two of them seemed to be enjoying this, Joker thought to himself. It definitely made their jobs a lot more easier.

“Just up ahead should be the last chamber above the Great Corridor,” Mona informed everyone. While Sky was running wild with Apollo, he had passed on the map and other info to Mona, who had experience in navigation.

“Will this be fine for you, Sky?” Panther turned around, a worried frown on her face. “If it’s hard for you to see this, you don’t have to.”

“Yeah, if it’s going to hurt you…” Skull glanced back.

“Thanks, but you don’t have to. I’ll handle it, and plus, I need to know how this ends. You can’t tell an Aozora to back off a cliffhanger,” Sky said, causing a small round of chuckles.

“If you believe so, I’ll trust your word.” Joker moved forward, opening the door leading to the balcony. Sky snorted, cringing.

“Why are you like this, Joker?”

Joker winked at him with a grin, making him shudder.

“Do I flirt back?” Sky asked Panther, who shrugged.

“It’s your bromance, you figure it out.”

They entered the room, seeing once again, another large scrambled mural. Rearranging it showed a young Futaba grabbing onto her mother’s dress, a pleading look on the child’s face.

_“Why don’t you come eat with me anymore?! Other kids’ mommies always eat dinner with them!”_

Sky let out a shaky sigh. It wasn’t as bad as he thought. The mural shimmered, revealing the Great Corridor and the large door in the way. The panel flipped, unlocking the final door in their path.

“Not another one of these…” Sky groaned, seeing the final entrance blocked with caution tape and an invisible barrier. A total separation from the rest of the Palace. They would have to alter cognition in order to progress further.

“This looks familiar again...Perhaps Futaba’s room?” Fox guessed.

“That sounds about right. The end of the Palace is right after this as well, so we could just send the calling card and call it that,” Joker remarked.

“We would need to give it to her in person, then,” Queen said, staring at the large barrier. “This is a manifestation of the idea that her room is a safe space that no one will enter, right?”

“Yep. She would have to receive this in person for this to go down,” Mona confirmed.

“Then that’s all for today. Good job, team. We finished exploration in a record time: a week and a half. That’s quite good. Think we can top it the next time?” Joker challenged.

“Hell, why not a day?” Sky smacked Skull, the pirate making an offended noise.

“Don’t tempt fate.”

“It’d be cool, though…”

“Yes, but also exhausting. Don’t jinx it.”

~~~

Hikaru took a deep breath, light gathering in his palms. His eyes closed, the lights in his hands formed into an ethereal bow and arrow. He pulled it back slowly, holding in the breath. Exhaling, his eyes snapped open and he released, firing an arrow of light straight through the target set up.

“That’s amazing!” Morgana cried from the side. Hikaru sighed, the bow of light vanishing in his arms. It was another session of magical practice. Currently, Yusuke was sculpting a statue of ice, Makoto was trying to channel a small amount of nuclear energy, and Akira was trying to cast two different elements at once.

Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana were assigned to make sure no one hurt themselves, and they would rotate later to allow them to practice.

“Would this be appropriate?” Yusuke asked. The ice sculpture was in the form of a beautiful swan emerging out of water. Hikaru let out an impressed whistle, going over to touch it. It was cool to the touch, no sign of it melting at all. It seemed to maintain its temperature, even as time went on.

“You’re really getting the hang of this, Yusuke. Your skill might even be at the same level as mine,” Morgana boasted, letting out a haughty laugh.

“Thank you,” Yusuke replied modestly.

“It’s our turn, yeah?” Ryuji yelled from the side. Hikaru nodded, the rest of the leaving the small field they found. Ryuji and Ann eagerly took their place, ready to use their powers that they normally don’t get the chance to.

“Alright!” Ryuji cheered, gathering electricity from all around them. Electricity was naturally drawn to the blond, causing large amounts of static build-up on a normal day, even without using his powers at all. This led to his electrical output being immense the first time, as they had found out last time.

Electricity gathered into the shape of an orb, and Ryuji grinned.

“Hey, Hikaru, catch!”

Hikaru rolled his eyes. A barrier formed in front of him as Ryuji tossed the orb straight at him. It dispelled the electricity completely, leaving no trace of its existence other than the lingering traces of static in the air. Ryuji pouted but got over it quickly.

The training went on smoothly, each of them getting more practice and therefore, becoming more proficient. Hikaru could control his new light powers decently well, as well as found out that he also could heal smaller wounds in the Metaverse when a stray ember from Ann’s fire hit his arm.

Now, they were taking a break in Leblanc, as well as time to discuss the calling card.

“So how the heck are we gonna do it this time? We can’t just barge into her room, right?” Ryuji scratched the back of his head.

“We’d just have to hope she opens the door. There’s not really much else we can do, right?” Ann looked at Makoto, who shrugged.

“Ann’s right. Worst case, we could break in, but I don’t think that’s helpful to either Futaba or Sojiro. Last, last resort.” Makoto crossed her arms.

“I guess we can get to work in preparing the calling card. As always, we’ll leave it to you, Makoto.” Akira nodded towards the president, who did the same.

“Other than that, I’ll be doing an equipment check to make sure we’re all fine, as well as a medicine run. The day after sound good to you all?” No objections, so Akira took it to mean it was fine.

“Oh, Hikaru, are you free tomorrow?” Ann asked. Hikaru tilted his head but nodded.

“Cool, meet me at the underground mall tomorrow.”

~~~

Hikaru looked around for any sign of the blonde girl. Ann was nowhere to be seen, even though they had agreed to meet up five minutes ago. He sighed, taking a seat at the bench nearby.

“Hikaru! Sorry we’re late!” Ann appeared around the corner, a black-haired girl getting dragged along with her with slight reluctance on her face. It lit up when she saw Hikaru, however. Hikaru’s did too.

“Shiho!” The girl smiled, waving a hand.

“How are you, Hikaru? Glad to see you’re doing better.” Hikaru chuckled.

“Same here.” The knowing glint in her eyes showed that she knew what exactly he was talking about.

“Alright, you two, let’s go shopping!” Ann grabbed the both of them by the wrist, pulling them along with a flame in her eyes. “Hikaru needs better clothes, and Shiho needs to buy stuff for her move!”

“Nothing’s changed in this dynamic, huh?” Hikaru whispered, making Shiho giggle.

“Thanks for taking care of Ann after everything happened,” she started while Ann was buzzing around looking at clothing.

“I would say it’s the opposite. I’ve had some rough patches, especially after what happened. It wasn’t just Ann alone, but she and other friends have definitely helped me out.”

Shiho gave a content smile.

“Doesn’t change the fact that Ann herself is a mess. I feel so much better when you’re with her.” Hikaru laughed, finally catching Ann’s attention from the summer sale that was ‘70% off for two tops, what a steal’, as she said.

“Hey, are you two gossiping?” She asked with an offended gasp. “Without me?”

“Yes, what a shame. We’ve been discovered, Hikaru.”

“Oh, what a tragedy.”

Ann shuddered as both of them stared at her with pure sarcasm. “I get it, jeez! If I didn’t know any better, I would say you two were related with how similar you are. Holy crap.”

“Not out fault you’re easy to tease,” they said at the same time. Hikaru and Shiho looked at each other for a moment, then laughed.

“Yes, yes, I get it, it’s bully Ann day. Now try this on, Hikaru. Stop wearing hoodies all the time.” Hikaru grumbled under his breath, going over and snatching the blue shirt from Ann’s hands.

It took Hikaru a solid five minutes to pick an outfit, and Ann fifteen minutes. While Ann was touring around, Hikaru returned to his conversation with Shiho.

“So you’re moving away?” Hikaru asked, watching Ann having a mental debate over two black tops.

“Yeah. I think it’ll be a good change of pace, since this label on me isn’t going to be going away anytime soon.” Shiho replied. She smiled, however, and continued. “It’s fine, though. I’m quite looking forward to a new experience, especially after all we’ve gone through. I’ll be leaving to live with my aunt and uncle in Inaba, so there’ll still be people looking out for me.”

“But you’re not denying that you’ll be sad when you leave…” Hikaru whispered. He sneaked a glance at Shiho, seeing the slight sadness in her dark eyes.

“I’ll miss you and Ann, of course. You were the first friends I made since we came here. It’ll be hard, knowing that if I get into any trouble, you two won’t be nearby.”

“I haven’t done much for you, Shiho. It was mostly Ann that helped you through everything that happened. I should also apologize for that. I’m sorry.”

Shiho smiled, shaking her head.

“Just seeing you daily, even if things were rough, was already enough. What he did was bad, no doubt about it, but I feel like if it didn’t happen, we wouldn’t be here. We might’ve just been classmates in a room, but never actually talking.”

Shiho turned over to look Hikaru in the eye.

“Thank you, Hikaru. For being there when I needed it, and for caring when nobody did. I’ll miss you, but we’ll stay in contact, yeah?”

Hikaru replied with a warm smile and an eye roll. “Oh, definitely. You think Ann can shut up about you for a minute? If I didn’t know better, I would say she’s in love with you. And I’m stuck on the receiving end. She’s going to call you every time she can and tell you what stupid shit we’re doing that day.”

Shiho giggled. She then said in a whisper, looking around for anyone nearby. “Don’t doubt it. I’m sure you guys have plenty of stories of whatever hijinks you go through stealing hearts.” Shiho winked.

“…At this point, I’m not even surprised. Did she tell you?” Hikaru asked, crossing his arms. He did a mental scan, confirming that there was no one close enough to hear what they were saying.

“No, I guessed. It’s kinda obvious, if you look at it properly. The affected victims of each case coming together? That’s a huge target on you right there. I won’t ask details, I’m a primary witness in Kamoshida’s case, after all. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.” Shiho returned to a normal volume and looking back into the store. Ann had, after another ten more minutes, finally picked the clothes she wanted.

“Once everything settles down, we can tell you what happens.”

“If it comes to that, I’d like that. Maybe I’ll come back and we can sit and chat somewhere.”

_“I’ll hold you to that.”_

Shiho jolted, hearing Hikaru’s voice in her head. She turned to look at him, but the heir was walking into the store, passing his credit card to the cashier to pay for the clothes. He did notice her stare, and turned his head towards her, a finger on his lips.

Shiho let out a laugh. “What a drama queen.”

~~~

“Here we go.” Akira took a deep breath, opening the gate to Sojiro’s house. The Thieves followed silently, feeling the atmosphere grow heavier as they entered.

They stopped at Futaba’s door. Makoto gave a tentative knock. “Alibaba?”

Akira’s phone pinged.

**_A:_ ** _What do you want?_

“We need your help, regarding your change of heart. Can you open the door?”

**_A:_ ** _…What does that have to do with anything?_

“It’s a mental block, to say the least. It’s stopping us from the core of your cognition, and not allowing us to take it.” Makoto was honest in her answer, not wanting to lie to Futaba, who needed the truth the most.

**_A:_ ** _…Give me a moment._

**_A:_ ** _Alright, come in._

The door was unlocked, and Makoto slowly opened it, peeking inside.

“Futaba…?”

The room was dark and messy, magazines and notes left all over the floor and across the table. The girl in question was at the table, which had a massive computer setup. Multiple lines of code were running across different monitors, each unique in their function. The top screens seemed to show camera surveillance, live footage of Leblanc and around Yongen playing.

Futaba herself kept her eyes glued on the computer, not turning around to look at them in the face.

“Will this do?” Akira whispered to Mona, who shrugged.

“Better safe than sorry. Get her to talk to us.”

“So?”

They all jumped at Futaba’s voice. It sounded slightly hoarse, probably from disuse, but was feminine, nonetheless. She looked at them from the reflection of her screens, her fingers glued on the keyboard.

“Take my heart. Steal it.”

Makoto was the first to respond, albeit an awkward response.

“…That’s not how it works. We just needed you to open the door.”

It might’ve been the lack of light, but Hikaru swore Futaba was blushing.

“…Then get out.” She lowered her head into her knees and made a noise. Hikaru couldn’t help but smile at the scenario.

“Okay. We’ll give you your space. Just read this, okay? It’s important.” Akira placed the calling card beside her, on the table. With a nod, they all made their exit, with the exception of Hikaru.

“Aren’t you going?”

Hikaru sighed, pulling out the report he made.

“As per your request. Read the calling card first, though. Read it when you’re done with that. The truth isn’t as you think it is.” With that, Hikaru left the room as well, giving Futaba the space she’ll definitely need.

They waited outside for Futaba to read it. After a short while, they heard Futaba yelp, and quick, small footsteps. Morgana ran out, leaping into Akira’s arms.

“She read it. We’re good to go.”

~~~

“Out of the way!”

The Shadow barely managed to jump out of the way, an inch from becoming roadkill. Queen floored the pedal on Johanna, Joker and Skull behind her enjoying themselves greatly. Right behind the two on the bike was everyone else, on Apollo’s chariot. They wanted to help Futaba as quickly as they could, so they rushed through everything. It was also to minimize the amount of combat they had to be in,

“Just up the stairs should be an elevator to the top!” Sky shouted out. Queen nodded, speeding faster. She flew up the stairs, landing right beside the elevator. Sky followed, but allowed the chariot to float over the stairs, thus reducing the bumps they had to go through.

“Let’s go.” They entered the elevator, Skull and Panther covering them. The door shut after the two jumped in, panting slightly.

“Prepare yourselves. I see nothing up ahead but be ready regardless.” Sky’s goggles glowed in the dark elevator, the only source of light. Everyone took a moment to mentally prepare themselves, and moved slowly when they arrived.

As Sky said, there was nothing around them, just a stone sarcophagus in the middle of the large room.

“Treasure readings are coming from inside that.”

Joker’s face contorted in disgust for a microsecond. “…Skull, open it.”

“What if there’s some kind of weird monster thing?!” Skull groaned, going over and pushing the stone coffin open, finding…nothing?

“What the-” Sky was interrupted by the large wail echoing through the walls of the pyramid. Everyone looked around, ready for battle. Warnings blared all over Sky’s goggles, signaling the upcoming threat. High attack damage, high defense, flight…incoming wind attack!

“Everyone, brace for impact!” Strong winds blew the limestone top of the pyramid open, chunks of rock shredded and launched far away. It left the Thieves at the top of the pyramid, witnessing the glory of the huge beast themselves.

 **“Who dares disturb the pharaoh’s sleep?!!”** The beast roared. It was in the shape of a sphinx, with a lion’s body and a human head. A head that Sky recognized as Wakaba Isshiki, Futaba’s mother. She roared again, diving towards them for an attack.

“Queen, Panther, out of the way!” The two girls leaped to cover, just in time as a claw came down onto the platform where they stood. Sky crouched onto a knee, taking a deep breath and focusing on the sphinx’s weaknesses. Physical attacks were stronger, but it was impossible due to how fast the sphinx could just fly off. Gunshots were hard to hit with the large amount of winds that surrounded the beast, and magic attacks were almost entirely resistant.

Things weren’t looking good. Everyone was flinging spells at it in an attempt to do some damage, but it didn’t seem to be doing much at all, as shown by how it brushed off everything with ease.

“Apollo!” The Persona materialized, charging an arrow of light. He fired, hitting the sphinx in the stomach. It let out a roar but didn’t seem to be that damaged by it at all.

“Sky, what do we do?!” Joker yelled, sending a blast of nuclear magic. Sky gritted his teeth, trying to formulate a plan. Everything wasn’t working. None of their abilities could neutralize an aerial threat. It’s impossible to shoot it down at this rate.

 **“The Pharaoh will die for her sins! And so shall you thieves!”** The cognitive Wakaba flew upwards, preparing for a dive attack. That gave them a few moments to prepare, bracing for the inevitable attack.

What they didn’t expect was that the attack was on a larger scale. It looked like the beast itself was about to squash all of them. It flew towards them head-on with hatred in its eyes. Sky could barely react in time.

“Apollo!”

A barrier was erected around the entire top floor, shielding it from Wakaba’s attack, but left Sky barely standing. Mona was immediately by his side, preparing a healing spell. Sky immediately stopped him, shaking his head. There was no point. If the sphinx dived like that again, it would be the end of all of them. No amount of healing was going to change that.

~~~

“Where…am I?” Futaba looked around, eyes wide in awe. The interior of this pyramid was totally her aesthetic, with neon green symbols on the side and everything. Akira said something about being in her cognition, right? So, this must be the world inside her heart, or something like that.

“…Do I just go along the path?” Futaba wondered to herself. It felt like she was a video game protagonist going in a path. Well, if anything, Akira sounded like the protagonist, going around leading a group of people who changed hearts. Maybe she was the sidekick who came just in time to save everyone from certain doom.

She got a giggle out of that.

She entered the dark elevator and arrived at the top, which was open-air. Debris was everywhere, and strangely dressed people were barely standing. But what her attention was focused on was her mother’s head, on the body of a sphinx. Her blood ran cold.

 **“You!”** Her mother’s glare sharpened on her. She whimpered, trying to avert her eyes. **“You killed me! You deserve to die!”**

“Futaba?!” A voice she recognized as Makoto yelled. “What are you doing here?!”

“I…” The sphinx flew upwards and roared as it dived towards them. Futaba screamed, curling herself into a fetal position. She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to look at her mother at her last moments.

“Apollo!”

Futaba heard a loud crash but felt nothing. She slowly looked upwards to see a blue, wispy figure that summoned a barrier around her. It nodded at her and vanished into flames. Outside, however, things weren’t as pretty. More figures surrounded the Phantom Thieves, who had surrounded themselves around who looked like Hikaru. Hikaru himself was on his knees, heavily panting. A hand came up to clutch his head.

“Will you just watch them die?” Futaba turned around, seeing herself.

“Will you do the same as before?” Futaba gasped, feeling the hallucinations return.

_“It seems that your mother had some sort of maternal neurosis. Taking care of you put a huge toll on her, Futaba.”_

_“You demon child! Get the hell out of my sight!”_

_“You killed her! You don’t deserve to be here!”_

**_“You killed me, Futaba! You must pay with it with your life!”_ **

“I did it…” She echoed, softly to herself.

“You saw everything, did you not?” Her Shadow said to her.

“She killed herself because of me, because of the maternity neurosis. That was what those people in black said…” Her voice was empty of emotion, eyes dulling. “And I must die for my sins.”

“No, you don’t!” She snapped out of her reverie, turning over to the Thieves. Hikaru was struggling to stand, blood running down his temple, but his eyes remained locked on hers. “You know the truth behind it, Futaba! The report!”

“The…report?” She tried to recall what was written on it, but her mind was foggy.

“Don’t let lies cloud your judgement!”

She felt something echo with that statement inside of her. The mist in her mind began to lift, revealing the truth.

_“While the general consensus on the case seems to be that Wakaba Isshiki committed suicide, her prior behavior suggests otherwise. A few days before the incident, key witnesses and close acquaintances nothing strange about Wakaba’s behavior. She had, in fact, boasted about Futaba’s grades in school, stating that they were above average and how proud she was as a mother. This directly contradicts the reason of death, being suicide due to maternity neurosis. She didn’t seem to be exhibiting any sort of mental illness, so there is no explanation to her sudden death, if it was suicide.”_

_“Therefore, as an Aozora, I believe that there might be another element involved in Wakaba’s death. A mental shutdown, perhaps? It would explain the inconsistent behavior exhibited by Wakaba moments before her death.”_

That was what was written. Her mother…was proud of her? A mental shutdown?

“Recall the truth…” Her surroundings turned into darkness. A large mural formed in front of her, the first one the Phantom Thieves saw. The reading of the suicide note.

“This was…when they read the suicide note,” Futaba whispered to her other self. Her Shadow nodded. “What did it say?”

“That Mom committed suicide because of me…” That image was stuck in her head, never leaving. That white room…her relatives staring at her like some monster, the apathetic stares from the men in black.

“And this?” The second mural appeared. It was the next one, depicting Wakaba’s death.

“This was the moment that Mom…” Her voice cracked.

“What happened before?”

“Before?” Futaba thought, but she couldn’t remember. Why couldn’t she remember?

Her Shadow moved on, bringing up the final mural. The one of her begging her mother.

“What happened here?”

“I threw a tantrum. I wanted Mom to eat with me, a proper meal. But she said no and got angry at me…” She recalled the angry expression her mother had. It was almost identical to the sphinx’s constant frown.

“And then?”

“Then…?” What happened after that? Everything’s so cloudy, she couldn’t remember. Her Shadow moved forward, standing right in front of Futaba.

“Recall the truth, Futaba Sakura. Recall the truth that you have chosen to forget.” With a tap to her forehead, everything became clear.

_Her mother’s angry expression immediately melted into regret once Futaba began crying._

_“I’m sorry, Futaba. But this is very important research, capable of changing the world itself. I need to finish it. I’m almost done, alright? Once this is all over, why don’t we go somewhere fun, the two of us? We could go on a picnic, would you like that?”_

_Wakaba pulled Futaba into an embrace, her daughter’s tears staining her coat._

_“It’ll be all over soon.”_

“She…wanted to take us to a picnic, once her research was done.” Everything was beginning to make sense.

“And the day of the accident?”

_“Futaba? Are you ready?”_

_“Yes, Mom!”_

_The girl was eager to go out. Her mother was going to fulfill her promise, and take her out on a picnic to a park nearby. She ran into the living room, her small backpack on her back. Her mother smiled, grabbing the small picnic basket that they filled together._

_“Let’s go, then.”_

“It was the day we were supposed to go on a picnic…” Futaba felt something deep within her soul open up. Instead of despair, anger began filling her veins. Anger at the people who lied, anger at her relatives for leaving her behind, and anger at herself for believing their lies. For forgetting the truth. But there was still one lingering doubt.

“But the suicide note…” Her Shadow raised an eyebrow.

“Would the mother you know, the woman who loved you, truly have written that?” Any last trace of doubt was gone.

“No!” She stood up, a defiant expression on her face.

“You know the truth, so what will you do?”

“Those people who hid the truth, they must’ve been the ones who killed her. I’ll find out the truth, not hiding anymore!” she exclaimed.

The Shadow smiled. When she spoke again, her voice echoed with another. **_“You have learned the truth, and you shall not waver. You are strong, as expected of my chosen one. The world could never hold you down.”_**

**_“Contract...I am thou, thou art I. The forbidden wisdom has been revealed. Nothing shall deceive you any longer.”_ **

Futaba was brought back into reality, along with her Shadow. It melted into light, forming into a UFO-like being. Strange tendrils reached out to grab Futaba, but gently and slowly, pulling her inside of the Persona. Within, everything became semi-transparent, allowing her to see her surroundings while inside. There were plenty of screens and consoles inside, which allowed her to alter and monitor exhaustion and magical levels, damage output, weaknesses and strengths, and even perform Palace alteration. Futaba grinned, and began altering the Metaverse itself.

“I’m fine! I’ll need you guys’ help in taking that thing down, though!” A circle of code erupted on the platform, creating what looked to be one of the giant crossbows that they had seen around the Palace.

“Futaba!” Sky swiped a screen towards Futaba, displaying it within her Persona. Current readings, attempted attacks, possible weaknesses, and other stats. Futaba grinned.

“Thanks! Someone needs to man this thing, I’ll take care of calibration and aiming!” Akira nodded towards Sky, who nodded in return. The navigator ran towards the crossbow, a monitor forming over his goggles. The sphinx was outlined in red, allowing for easy tracking, even when she was in the clouds. The weapon was altered to include a homing sequence, which got rid of the need to aim.

“Fire!”

Sky launched the bolt, piercing the beast in its wing. It crashed onto the side of the pyramid, leaning onto it for stability. This made it a lot more easier for everyone to get melee attacks off.

“Hell yeah, time to go ham, Seiten Taisei!” The monkey god slammed his pole into Wakaba’s face, the beast growling but holding on.

“Follow up, Hecate!” Flames burst into life, launching themselves at the sphinx. It charred her fur greatly, and patches of burnt skin could be seen under it.

“This’ll help!” Red auras surrounded everyone, powering up their attacks. They rushed in once again with renewed vigor, aiming to take it down in one go. Everyone summoned their Personas and attacked with their strongest attacks.

“Goemon, Tempest Slash!”

“Johanna, Flash Bomb!”

“Zouchouten, Swift Strike!”

“Hecate, Agilao!

“Seiten Taisei, Assault Dive!”

“Apollo, Kougaon!”

The large amount of physical attacks tore the sphinx apart, causing heavy damage to its wings and arms. The magical attacks acted as distractions, disorienting or disrupting the sphinx. It was a lot more effective, and the sphinx looked heavily injured when it pushed itself off of the pyramid and flew back upwards, wing now recovered.

“One more time should do it!” Futaba yelled, resetting the crossbow bolt. Sky once again took his place behind it, firing at Futaba’s command.

 **“You demon child, you killed me! You did nothing as I died!”** The sphinx screeched, claws weakly slashing at their general direction. The Thieves pointed their guns, but held their fire, waiting for Futaba’s response.

Futaba lowered her head, biting his lip. When she looked up again, her eyes were burning with determination.

“I’ve been living under your shadow for my life, but no longer! You’re not the mother I loved, you’re just a beast of my past! Phantom Thieves, fire!” The guns sprayed bullets all across the sphinx. It let out a loud screech, falling onto the desert, unmoving. Sand gathered around it, forming a mini sandstorm that merged with the black wisp of Shadows.

A light landed on the platform, and the image of Wakaba emerged. Futaba came

down from her Persona, a large pair of bug-eyed goggles forming over her face.

“…Mom?”

Wakaba smiled. “Thank you for remembering, Futaba.”

“…I’m sorry it took me this long. I…” She reached out, but Wakaba shook her head.

“You’re not supposed to be here yet, right? You still have a life to live.” Wakaba leaned down and pat her on the head, Futaba quietly sobbing. The scientist got up, facing the Thieves.

“Take care of her for me, please.”

The Thieves nodded, giving a small bow. Wakaba smiled and bowed as well. She vanished back into light, the world around them brightening. Futaba let out a shaky breath and finally noticed her outfit.

“Woah, what the heck?!” She ran a green-gloved hand over the skin-tight long-sleeved top with green lines. “This is totally skin-tight! Cool!”

“Cool of you to notice…” Sky was grasping his head, charging a healing spell in his hands. He pressed it against his bleeding temple, letting out a sigh of relief as the throbbing pain began to fade. Mona was also moving around, helping to clean up any wounds the Thieves might have.

“Well,” Futaba yawned, “I’m pooped. I’m leaving.”

“…Wait, just like that?”

“Well, I know how to use the Nav now, so…” Futaba shrugged and left. The Thieves were too stunned to even follow her.­

A few moments after Futaba had left, the world began to tremble.

“What’s going on now?!” Panther squealed, trying to keep her balance.

“Futaba herself was the Treasure! Now that she’s gone, the world’s collapsing!” The pyramid they were on began to shake. All of them let out panicked sounds and immediately began running down the face of the Palace.

“Go, go, go!” They leaped two steps at a time, but it didn’t seem like they would make it in time. In a fit of desperation, Panther grabbed Mona and flung him into the sky, the cat transforming mid-flight into the car. He landed at the bottom of the pyramid, ready to drive off at the command.

The ground below them exploded, launching the Thieves airborne. Queen and Sky summoned their Personas, making a graceful landing, with the rest caught by Mona, depositing them into the vehicle. The three vehicles sped off towards the open rift they came from, bringing them out of the Palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we get into the subplot of romance. I'm telling all of you right now, I'm a straightforward person. I personally cannot write pining and slow burns for the love of my life, so expect the entire thing to be handled very orderly. It'll still be relevant to the plot, so don't worry.


	27. Sleeping Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We start the romance subplot.

It’s been a few days since they cleared Futaba’s Palace. With nothing to do while waiting for Futaba to wake up, the Phantom Thieves were, once again, left with time on their hands. Which led to this.

“Hikaru, can we have a sleepover at your place?”

This came out of the left field for Hikaru. However, by the sounds of it, it was something Ann at least was thinking about for a while. Hikaru raised an eyebrow in amusement.

“Can I ask why?”

The girl stammered in her response. Hikaru’s eyes gleamed.

“Well, one is that we wanted to see what your house looks like, and it’s also a good bonding opportunity for the Thieves. Second is just mainly personal curiosity, if I can say so.”

He could, of course, tell that she was lying. Ann was terrible at acting. But he can say that she has definitely improved. Yusuke might have bought that.

Deciding that Ann would probably not mind, he did some mental probing.

_I can’t tell him I want to have talks in the middle of the night about crushes! It’ll be so awkward! Plus, these kinds of things always happen spontaneously! Middle of the night, someone asks the question: ‘Hey, what kind of people do you like?’ It’s like the core of youth itself!_

Ann continued with her inner monologue, not noticing Hikaru’s eyes glow. The heir let out an amused chuckle.

“…You know, if you want to know what kind of people I like, you can just ask.”

Ann let out a shocked gasp. Her expression then turned into embarrassment, with a bit of annoyance.

“…So?”

“If you can get everyone on board, sure. I’ll let you know if we can do it at my place, though.”

Ann let out a squeal of excitement, clinging onto Hikaru.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

She did this in the middle of the classroom, where almost the entire class was gathered at. Hikaru could feel the glares pointed towards him, most from the male students, but he didn’t care. He was busy trying to pry Ann off of him.

~~~

And so came the day of the sleepover.

He double-checked that his father would be away that night, off on a business trip somewhere. That left him with the whole estate to himself and the staff at his command. He took a sip of tea that a butler had provided in the dining room, snacking on some fries that he got on his way home from school.

“Young Master, there are some students at the door asking for you.”

Hikaru sighed, got up, and went to the door. He had already changed out of his uniform, now dressed in a short-sleeved t-shirt and comfortable shorts.

“Are they carrying a bag from Big Bang Burger?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then let them in.”

Outside, Ryuji was holding onto the bag from Big Bang Burger, mouth wide open at seeing the Aozora Estate in its full glory. While the building was mostly in line with what they expected: a large, almost gigantic mansion in the outskirts of town, fancy fountains and the like; what took their breath was the heavy security stationed around. There were barbed wires lining the walls, security posts by the entrances, and even small patrol units around the block. If he squinted, he could see spotlights in the darkness of the evening.

This looked to be more of a prison than a house.

Ryuji couldn’t blame Hikaru for wanting to stay as long out as possible. A butler came to the gate, signaling the guard to open it. When they entered, the butler bowed.

“The Young Master has been expecting you. Right this way.”

They were led into the building. And once again, they gaped at the living room. The room was decorated with artifacts that looked like it was worth more than the Thieves’ entire life savings combined. Lavish, velvet couches were in the centre of the room, under a soft, fluffy carpet. A wide plasma TV was mounted onto the wall, with multiple expensive consoles underneath. And lighting everything up was the massive chandelier above their heads. There were three hallways, one on the left and right, and another leading upstairs.

Hikaru was on the couch, munching on some fries. The heir looked massively out of place, wearing a graphic tee with lounge shorts. He had a hand in a Big Bang Burger bag, watching TV while lounging like a couch potato. The pure juxtaposition in front of the Thieves kept them stunned for a moment.

“Oh, fancy seeing you here,” he said with heavy sarcasm. That effectively shattered the heavy atmosphere. Ryuji chuckled, hurling the bag of fries over to the heir. Hikaru let out a weird noise, grabbing more fries to stuff in his mouth.

“This is…so surreal,” Ann said to herself.

“Truly. I’m witnessing two clashing elements, the sheer friction between them absolutely stunning. I must capture this!” Yusuke reached into his bag, pulling out a sketchbook and a pencil, making a quick sketch on the spot.

“I don’t know what you expected me to be like at home, really. Do I seem like the kind of person who would wear those fancy people pyjamas and like walk with grace and all that bullshit?”

“…Now that you say it, no, not really.”

Makoto sighed. “Alright, let’s stop that there. Hikaru, where will be sleeping tonight?”

Hikaru waved his hand, turning off the TV. Ryuji let out a ‘woah’, staring at the plasma TV.

“Well, I’m assuming you all want to sleep together in one big room, right?” They nodded. “Then I have two choices. We can all either sleep here, or you could sleep with me in my room. There’s plenty of space, we’ll just need some extra futons.”

“We can decide that later. Can we get a tour, maybe?” Akira was trying to keep his eyes on Hikaru, but he couldn’t help but sneak a glance around. The place was amazing.

“Sure. Leave your bags here for now.” Hikaru got up, going to a door at the side which they assumed was the bathroom. They heard the sound of running water, and Hikaru came back out, hands wet but clean.

“Come along. Welcome to the most secure building in the entirety of Tokyo, most probably.” Hikaru led them down one of the hallways.

“Speaking of which, why is it so heavily guarded? You got some secret shit in here or something?” Ryuji asked.

“Actually, yes. I’ve mentioned it before, but the Aozora Archives is the biggest collection of information in all of Japan. It can only be accessed physically, operating on its own OS. So, in order to make sure everything stays safe, the government decided that precautions had to be taken, and this happens.” He waved at the security cameras down each hallway and at every turn.

The tour went mostly uninterrupted, with butlers and maids bowing whenever Hikaru was near. The first floor of the estate contained the kitchen, dining room, laundry and cleaning rooms, accommodations for the staff if needed, and the Archive room itself. The second floor was where the bedrooms were, along with his father’s office and private library. There was a balcony that allowed a view to the main foyer outside the house, where they arrived from.

“…And that’s basically everything.” The tour took about an hour, and they were starting to get hungry. Hikaru hummed, leading them to the dining room. A meal was already prepared, left at the table at Hikaru’s request. Everything was just served, so it was still warm.

“Well, let’s eat.” They sat at the table warily, looking around if it was okay. Hikaru, on the other hand, took a seat, as if naturally. The Phantom Thieves, once again, were reminded that Hikaru was the heir of the Aozora, son to one of the richest corporations of Japan, no, the world.

The meal was absolutely amazing for the Thieves. They never had such a high-quality meal before, even better than what they had at the Wilton buffet a while ago.

The meal started quietly, small conversations here and there. Everyone was slightly scared of breaking the image of nobility, which Hikaru immediately shattered by burping out loud, looking unashamed as he did. The maids by the entrance let out small giggles, nudging each other. The Thieves were a lot less shy about their laughter after that, replacing the tense atmosphere just a minute ago with a happy one.

“I’m stuffed…” Ryuji groaned, leaning back on his seat.

Just as they were settling down, an alarm rang out in the hall. Everyone looked around in a panic, but Hikaru just groaned, getting up. The maids at the door rushed out, their destination unknown.

“Not this again…” Hikaru got up, looking back at the panicking Thieves.

“Everyone, come with me. You get a special show tonight, what proper timing.”

Hikaru led them to the balcony, where they had a large view of the entire courtyard. And running right across the large field was a man dressed entirely in black, his face covered by a mask. He seemed to not notice the heir on the balcony, instead focused on getting to cover.

“Wait, is that…” Makoto began.

“Yes, that is an intruder. Remember how I said the Archives are only accessible physically? That’s one reason why this place is so heavily guarded. And occasionally, you get idiots like this who think that they’re master cat burglars or something.” Hikaru leaned on the rail, letting out a sigh.

“Usually my father’s the one who oversees all of this, but he isn’t here tonight, so I’m left with doing this. You all get to witness the Aozora fortress at full power. I’m going to need you all to not look at what I’m doing here.”

Reaching over to a console by the wall, Hikaru turned to make sure everyone wasn’t looking, and flipped everything on, lighting the courtyard up. Light illuminated every corner, revealing the thief, who yelled in response. He tried to run towards the garden, but poles emerged from the ground, creating an electric maze around the man.

“What the?!” Ryuji jumped back at the loud crackling produced by the electric fences.

Akira let out an impressed whistle, his mind making the connection to Madarame’s laser maze. It was similar, but this looked a lot cooler, definitely.

Hikaru’s yell interrupted his thoughts.

“Alright, loser. I have friends over, and you’re interrupting something. What’s the deal this time? Revenge? Info wars?” He said this all with a bored expression.

The thief stayed silent, quietly looking around for escape routes. Hikaru sighed, going back to the console. “Security?”

The guards surrounded the area, and Hikaru disabled the fences. Immediately, the man tried to run, but there was no escape. He was captured on the spot and taken away.

The Thieves watched all of this with an open jaw. It was almost ruthless, how efficient the entire process is. Hikaru remained unbothered by the fact that someone tried to break into his house, and went back to the dining room, just in time for dessert.

~~~

“Hikaru, your room is…” Ann didn’t know how to describe it. It was massive, as expected, but aside from that, it was…normal. Posters of video games, idols, and anime decorated the walls. It was painted a calming blue, with a dark blue ceiling. The only sign that this wasn’t in some normal apartment is the luxurious space and four-post king-sized bed, as well as the walk-in closet and massive bathroom.

Hikaru sat at his desk, spinning to face the group. “I’ll get someone to bring in some futons, so what do you want to do now?”

“Is there anywhere we can take a shower and change?” Makoto asked, eager to change out of her daily clothes into something more comfortable.

“You can use my bathroom. I assume you all brought your own toiletries and everything?” The girls nodded, while the guys gave an awkward chuckle. “Figures. You can use mine if you need it, I’ll ask for towels for all of you.”

While the Thieves took turns showering, Hikaru laid on his bed, scrolling on his phone. Akira took the chance to call dibs on the bed, leaving the rest of the Thieves to sleep on the futons some maids brought over earlier. This, of course, came with some arguments.

“But I wanna sleep on the bed!” Ryuji argued, which Akira rebutted by sticking out his tongue.

“I am feeling loved tonight,” Hikaru said with a blank expression. Akira proceeded to cuddle with Hikaru, pulling the smaller heir into his embrace. He pressed a small kiss on the top of Hikaru’s head, while the smaller teen remained unbothered.

“I can’t really tell if this is platonic anymore, Akira.” Hikaru looked up, seeing Akira smirk at him.

“I love you, Hikaru.”

“Well, damn. I guess I love you too.”

“Amazing, now can I sleep on the bed?” Akira once again stuck his tongue out at Ryuji, shooing him away to go take a shower. The blond groaned, smacking Akira on the arm, but went off to take his shower when Yusuke finished.

“Oh damn, what happened here?” Ann said with a suggestive tone as she entered the room. The girls were given a separate room to shower, since they would probably take longer, and it was getting late.

“Hikaru is my one true love,” Akira explained, as much of an explanation as that was. Ann, however, bought it fully, giggling to herself.

“I see you two worked your bromance out,” she commented. Hikaru rolled his eyes.

At this point, he had no idea if they were joking or not. But honestly, what’s the difference? He still knows he loved them and their company. That didn’t mean that Akira couldn’t hug him or cuddle with him; he wasn’t opposed to skinship between friends.

“Hikaru, are you going to shower?” Ryuji emerged from the shower in loose clothing, a towel around his neck.

Hikaru got up and out of Akira’s grasp, causing the bespectacled teen to let out a whine. Hikaru snorted, a plan coming to his head. If Akira wanted to show him affection, who was he to decline?

“I’ll be back, baby. Just wait for a moment. Go play with Ryuji or something.” He reached over to kiss Akira on the forehead and left. He laughed internally at Akira’s rapidly reddening face in his peripheral, grabbing a set of comfortable clothes and entering the shower.

~~~

“…Dude, you’re so red right now.” Ryuji was barely holding in his laughter. Ann was gaping at what happened, slightly red herself. Yusuke looked distracted, sketching something in his sketchbook and not paying attention to what happened at all.

Akira groaned, dragging his hands over his face, flopping onto the bed.

“You’re so screwed,” Ryuji shook his head, reaching a hand over to Ann. The girl grumbled, pulling out a 5000-yen bill and handing it over.

“I told you it was a real crush. You just didn’t believe me like the fool you are,” Ryuji mocked Ann, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“…What do I do?” Akira asked, muffled by the pillow he faceplanted in.

“What you’ve been doing. It seems to be working. But I wanna hear all the details some other day, Akira.” Ryuji sat by Akira’s side, patting his fluffy hair. “There, there, never doubt Ryuji on these kinda things anymore. I might be bad at school shit, but I’ve seen enough rom-coms to know where this’s headed.”

“…Do you think I have a chance?”

“He calls you Kira, bro. Even I don’t give you nicknames. I think you have a likely chance.”

Akira let out another whimper, and Ryuji rolled his eyes. This was the scene Hikaru saw when he came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. He was confused but shrugged it off. He’s seen weirder things.

~~~

Yusuke sighed, arriving at yet another property owned by Makoto. The student council president owned almost half the board, while Hikaru held almost everything else. The odds of this happening were almost astronomically small, considering the number of players, but they held three whole sets each, while the rest was split between the other Thieves. Ryuji went bankrupt a few turns ago, Akira and Ann were barely holding on, Morgana somehow perfectly fine, and Yusuke himself about to meet his doom.

Makoto could barely hide her grin. “That’ll be another 550, Yusuke.”

The artist let out a displeased grunt, mortgaging the last property he owned on the board to pay Makoto. It was barely enough, and lending on the next property would surely end him. There wasn’t much hope. Makoto rolled the dice, and winced when she saw where she landed.

“Oh, Makoto, what a shame. That’s 1000, please.” Hikaru reached a hand out, a smirk plastered across his face. Makoto let out a defeated huff, passing over the money. This continued for a while, with the two of them passing money back and forth, just waiting for the moment one of them lands on a highly-priced property.

Unfortunately for Makoto, Hikaru owned the expensive sets.

By this point, everyone else was out of the game, watching intently at the battle of chance between the two smartest members of the group. Yusuke was muttering something under his breath while sketching, Ann was on Makoto’s side, Akira on Hikaru’s, and Ryuji slowly getting bored.

Eventually, Makoto landed on Mayfair. With a hotel on it. She cursed to herself, and had to sell her hotels and mortgage her property to pay it off.

And that was that.

“Well, I’m never playing Monopoly this late in the night ever again.” They finished around eleven, which considering that the next day was a Sunday, was still quite early by some standards. But Makoto was getting tired, as she too had to stick to a strict schedule for mental discipline.

“If you’re tired, we can try to not be too loud…” Ann suggested, looking pointedly at Ryuji.

“No, I think it’s a good time to go to sleep. I’m a bit tired too,” Hikaru said while stifling a yawn. “You guys can move to the living room or another room if you guys want to play more games or something. There’s some consoles downstairs with games, knock yourself out. Get someone to help you set it up if you need.”

Ann deflated slightly, her original plan of gossiping into the night failed.

Hikaru went into the washroom to brush his teeth before sleeping. The rest of the Thieves looked at each other and shrugged. It wouldn’t be as fun if it was just a few of them, so they decided to just go to sleep. They could have more fun tomorrow, anyway. They took turns brushing their teeth and went to bed.

Akira took his place at the bed next to Hikaru, while everyone else made themselves comfortable on the surprisingly nice futons. It was even better than what they expected, so they really had no complaints.

Akira pulled Hikaru into a cuddle, the heir letting out a soft whine. He was too lazy and tired to struggle, so he just stayed there. He eventually fell asleep like that, his breath falling even against Akira’s chest. The black-haired teen blushed, watching the calm expression on Hikaru’s face as he let out silent snores.

“That’s so fucking cute…” Ann whispered from beside the bed. Akira sent her a quick glare, to which she giggled at. She got in her futon, leaving Akira to his own thoughts. And try as he may, the only thing occupying his mind is the boy in his arms.

Hikaru was no doubt an important person in Akira’s life. Sure, he was part of the Phantom Thieves and everyone in the Thieves felt like family to him, and all of his Confidants were important in their own way, but Hikaru felt like an exception. He was one of the only people around him that wasn’t a Confidant, but he still enjoyed spending time with.

That was a topic of curiosity. Why wasn’t Hikaru a Confidant? The Velvet Room hosts mentioned that Confidants were people that have strong bonds around him, so why is Hikaru not included in that? He was by far the most important bond he had formed within Tokyo since getting here. The only other person he could think of was Shiho, and he wasn’t exactly close to her like what one would expect, so her not being a Confidant made sense.

Speaking of the Velvet Room, what was Hikaru’s connection to that? It had completely slipped his mind at the time, but Hikaru’s Metaverse outfit had the symbol of the Velvet Room on it. Does that mean that Hikaru has visited the Velvet Room, or at least know what it is? What’s the truth here?

Akira wondered about this as he slowly drifted to sleep, letting these thoughts wander in his mind.

~~~

Akira was woken up by a soft smack to his chest. He mumbled, slowly opening his eyes, but everything was still dark. He looked around, trying to get a sense of what was happening. Oh, yeah, he was at Hikaru’s place for the sleepover.

A pained whimper came from under him.

Hikaru was thrashing in his hold, eyes clenched tight. His breaths were quick, labored. Sweat was covering his entire forehead, a tight frown on his face. He was muttering something under his breath, almost pleading. It was too soft to hear, even in the dead of the night.

Akira tried to shake him awake, but Hikaru was unresponsive. He tried again, harder this time, and Hikaru jolted awake, eyes wide and panicked. The heir looked around for a moment, only calming down once he realized it was just a nightmare.

“You alright?” Akira whispered, not wanting to wake everyone else up. He could hear Ryuji’s loud snoring from where he was. Hikaru trembled for a moment and decided to stay silent, pulling Akira closer and taking deep breaths.

“Just a nightmare. You’re fine,” Akira reassured him.

“…Sorry. I haven’t had a nightmare in a while…” Hikaru whispered, matching Akira’s volume. His tone was shaky, betraying the attempt at a calm façade.

“Don’t apologize.” They stayed silent for a few moments before Akira continued.

“…Do you mind me asking what it was about?” Akira rested his chin on top of Hikaru’s head, patting him on the back gently.

“…It’s just a dream.” Hikaru bit his lip, hiding his expression from Akira.

“I want to know what’s bothering you, Hikaru. You’re important to me, you know.” Hikaru let out a shaky breath, leaning further into Akira’s embrace.

“…It’s the same one I always have. It’s a Palace exploration, but we encounter Akechi. He sweeps the floor with all of us and kills us. He always leaves me for last, making me watch as you all die from his hand. I’m always not able to do anything but just watch as he brutally murders all of you. And when he approaches me, the dream ends with darkness surrounding me, the last thing I hear is his ominous laugh.”

A small ball of dim light formed by Hikaru’s side, floating around him. Akira’s eyes glowed a bright yellow as the light kept them illuminated, casting away the darkness of the night.

“…I’m scared, Kira. What if I fuck up and we all die? I’m the only one who can track Akechi. What if he manages to sneak past me, and I lead everyone into a trap?”

“Then it’s also our fault for not paying attention. We’re a team, Hikaru. Nothing is only your fault.”

“But I’m the one who’s supposed to pay attention to these things…”

“Again, I would just be as responsible for being your leader and not keeping an eye on you. And Makoto for being our strategist. And everyone else for not watching for our navigator. We’re a team. If one person fails, we’re all at fault.”

“…Okay.”

Akira shushed Hikaru, just holding him while the heir calmed down. He knew that Hikaru didn’t believe him, but he couldn’t watch any longer while Hikaru blamed himself for hypothetical failures in the future.

“If we ever encounter Akechi, we have a contingency plan. You and I will blind him, and Yusuke will stall him with ice while we run.” That seemed to reassure Hikaru a bit, but not put him entirely at ease.

“…And if it doesn’t work?”

“Then we’ll adapt on the fly. We’ve been doing that for long enough, I think it’ll be fine if we do it one more time.”

Hikaru let out a breath. Akira held him tighter, closing his eyes. “We’ll live through all of this, Hikaru. I’ll make sure we live.”

Hikaru pushed Akira to an arm’s distance, looking at him in his eyes.

“Promise you won’t die. No matter what.”

“I promise.”

Hikaru leaned closer, resting his forehead against Akira’s. His lips were ghosting over Akira’s, close enough that he could feel the warmth off of them. Akira thanked the heavens that his back was towards the moonlight, keeping his red face hidden. Being so close also allowed him to appreciate Hikaru’s facial features fully. His gleaming blue eyes, thin but cute nose, soft cheeks and full lips. Akira wanted to kiss all of it, but he held himself back.

“…Okay.” Hikaru smiled, and Akira felt his insides turn to mush. He’s seen Hikaru smile many times, but this was the first time he felt this feeling in his stomach.

He was falling deep.

“I’ll always be here, Hikaru. Even if I die, I’ll be by your side.”

Hikaru leaned back and watched Akira’s serious expression for any sign of hesitation. There was none. “Don’t joke about that. You’re important to me too, Akira. I won’t let you die, I swear.”

Akira slightly mourned the moment. “This is all very romantic, don’t you think?” He quickly changed the topic with a sly grin, wiggling his eyebrows.

“God, why are you like this?” Hikaru muttered to himself but didn’t pull away. He closed his eyes, breathing in Akira’s scent. It reminded him of the atmosphere of Leblanc: warm, homey, cozy. He kept the next part of the sentence to himself.

_‘…But I don’t seem to mind.’_

~~~

Makoto woke up first, as expected. She had woke up around eight, checking her phone for any messages from her sister. Seeing none except a reminder to make sure she would be back home by tonight, she got up, heading into the washroom to freshen up.

She came out a few minutes later, dressed in comfortable clothes for the day, and looked around. She couldn’t stop the fond smile on her face. Akira and Hikaru were cuddling together on the bed, with the rest in a semi dogpile along the lined-up futons on the floor. It was endearing.

Of course, Makoto knew about Akira’s situation, at least roughly. It was a new development, but it was easy enough to accept. Akira wasn’t exactly subtle. She has discussed with Ann before, how both of them technically had crushes on Akira but quickly got over it. She remembered how awkward she was when she confessed.

Makoto cringed.

Shesnapped out of her thoughts at a groan. Hikaru was beginning to stir, slowly wiggling his way out of Akira’s grasp, replacing his spot with a pillow. His eyes were still shut as he sat up, hands wandering to the bedpost to get a sense of where he was.

Hikaru stifled a yawn, scratching his stomach as he slowly made his way towards the bathroom, almost tripping over the dogpile. Makoto stayed out of the way, Hikaru wandering past without saying anything.

Makoto rolled up her futon while waiting for Hikaru to finish, seeing as she didn’t have much to do. It would just be rude of her to leave everything there, especially considering how well she was treated since entering the estate.

“…Wanna get a coffee, Makoto?” Hikaru asked once he came out of the bathroom. He looked more awake, but still has messy bed hair and half-lidded eyes. Makoto nodded, and the two of them went downstairs to the dining room. A butler was there, bowing once Hikaru emerged with Makoto behind him. He passed a stack of papers to Hikaru.

“Young Master, the report from yesterday.” Hikaru took the stack and sat at the table, Makoto sitting next to him. The butler came a few minutes later, two cups of coffee with packs of sugar and creamer. Hikaru licked his lips, taking a sip and read the report.

“Is that about the intruder yesterday?” Makoto asked, leaning over to take a peek. Hikaru placed it on the table so that she didn’t need to lean too far.

“Yeah. Turns out it’s another corporate person envious of the success of the Aozora. That’s common.” He passed it over to her after the first few lines. It’s almost always the case with these intruders, so he usually stopped at the cause.

“Interesting. By the way, Hikaru, can I ask you something?”

Hikaru let out a noncommittal hum, taking another sip of his coffee.

“Do you like Akira romantically?”

He almost choked. Makoto watched all of this with a neutral expression.

“…What gave you that idea?” Hikaru asked after a few coughs.

“You two were quite close last night, not to mention how much Akira likes spending time with you. I would argue he spends time with you the most out of all the Phantom Thieves.”

Hikaru ran a hand through his messy hair, letting out a groan. He took a moment to compose himself, then looked back at Makoto.

“What do you think?”

Makoto raised an eyebrow but remained completely composed. “I would say you do, but that’s just me. Maybe it’s hopeful wishing that Akira might find happiness with you, considering how much he’s helped all of us do the same with our lives.”

Hikaru rested his chin on a fist. “Fair enough. To be honest with you, I don’t know how I feel. I don’t know how much I feel is just appreciation for him being there as a friend, and how much of it is genuine love. I don’t want to give him false hope for a relationship when I don’t even feel the same.”

“Not to mention my status. I’m an Aozora, Makoto. Everyone is expecting me to carry on the family name. It won’t be a quiet life in the slightest, and it’ll come with risks, dangers, and a whole lot more politics. There’s a lot of things to consider if I even think of dating. I don’t have it as simple as ‘I like you, you like me, let’s go out’.”

“You didn’t say no.”

Hikaru snorted. “That’s what you got from all of that?”

Makoto gave him a sheepish grin. “Forgive me for acting my age. I’m a high school girl, after all.”

“But in all seriousness, I think that you two would be a great pair. You two are already quite coordinated within the Metaverse and definitely know each other well. He cares about you, you care about him. Both of you have seen the other in their weakest. Communication between you two comes naturally, and you both know each other’s boundaries. Call it my shoujo heart, but I think your relationship will easily trump over any issues that arise.”

Hikaru stayed silent, thinking about Makoto’s words. She was right, of course. He knew she was. If they were to start dating, they would be nigh unstoppable.

“…I’ll think about it, alright?”

“That’s all I can ask for.” Makoto hid a smirk with another sip of coffee.

_“Akira and Ann would be so proud of me.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does it feel too sudden? To be fair, I've left hints of it, but they can be easily misinterpreted, I think. I hope this doesn't make it seem like this relationship is just coming out of the left field.


	28. New Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I say I don't like dragging things on, I mean it.

It was the day of the purge. Everyone was slightly jumpy, while Akira had resigned to just chilling. There wasn’t much they could do at this point. He headed downstairs, Sojiro at the counter with a cup of coffee ready.

The bell above the door rang, and Hikaru walked in. He gave a small bow to Sojiro, nodded back, preparing another cup of coffee.

“What brings you here on this fine day?” Akira asked, but he knew the answer.

“Would you believe me if I said to just see you?” Hikaru winked, making Akira laugh.

“Not at all, but sure.”

“Hurry up and eat, curry’s getting cold,” Sojiro interrupted their conversation. Hikaru gestured for him to eat, taking a seat at his usual booth.

_“The Medjed purge was scheduled for today, yet no actions have been taken by the Phantom Thieves or Medjed themselves. We will keep you updated as our sources keep an eye on both the Medjed home page as well as the Phantom Thieves Aficionado Website.”_

“Who’s the extra coffee cup for, Boss?” Akira asked, watching Sojiro make two more cups of coffee.

“Today’s the day that Wakaba passed. As a way of remembering that, I usually get Futaba a cup of coffee that Wakaba gave the recipe for, and drink with her,” Sojiro explained as he came around the counter to serve Hikaru.

“Should I leave, then? If it’s a personal moment for you, I don’t mind coming back later,” Hikaru asked, slightly worried he intruded on something.

“You’re fine, Aozora. You’re basically here most of the time anyway. You’re as much family as Akira is, and you know about Wakaba already. She would’ve liked some intellectual company,” Sojiro said with a grin, bringing a smile to Hikaru’s face. “Not to mention how much you helped Futaba. I read that report you gave her.”

“Well, thank you, then,” Hikaru replied, slightly flushed from the compliment.

The door opened, and a petite redhead walked in, hands crossed behind her back. Everyone was silent while she took a seat at the counter, beside Akira. She grabbed the cup of coffee, took a sip, and pretended to gag.

“Too cold. You serve this to people?”

Sojiro was the first one to react. “Futaba?!”

“Hmm.” The girl looked uninterested, pulling out her phone.

“H-how did you get here?” he stammered, looking back at the door and again at Futaba.

“Walked.”

“I’m not dreaming, right…?” Sojiro pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath.

“Sojiro, I want curry!” Futaba whined, finishing her coffee. Sojiro chuckled fondly, heading over to the fridge.

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t think we have ingredients left, so I’ll go get some, alright?” Sojiro left, a smile on his face. Futaba huffed, looking down at the empty coffee cup.

“Why do I feel like I’m forgetting something…” she muttered to herself.

“Medjed?” Hikaru suggested.

“Oh, yeah. Come with me, we’ll deal with it right now.”

~~~

Futaba led them into her dark room, Hikaru switching on the lights as he walked past. Futaba let out a hiss, glaring at Hikaru while grabbing her blanket to put over her. She squatted awkwardly on the chair and began typing something on her computer. Her attention was hyper-focused on the screens in front of her, not even making a single sound as she typed away.

“So…” Hikaru started awkwardly, breaking the tense atmosphere after a few moments of silence, “how long will this take?”

“Gimme like an hour at most,” was the short reply.

Hikaru groaned, lying down on Futaba’s bed. Morgana scampered up the bed and laid down on Hikaru’s chest, letting out soft purrs. Akira looked around the mess of a room and decided to do some cleaning up.

“I’m taking a quick nap then…” Hikaru muttered, slowly nodding off. It was still quite early in the morning, and he was tired.

Akira stayed quiet as he cleaned up, occasionally going downstairs to get some cleaning supplies. Sojiro had came up to deliver the curry, passing it to Akira and asking him to make sure that Futaba ate something at the minimum. After about half an hour, he finished tidying up everything. He laid next to Hikaru on the bed, watching the heir sleep, cuddling Morgana slightly.

A smile wormed itself onto his face. It was just so cute. He loved watching Hikaru sleep. The usual worried or stressed expression that he had in the Metaverse didn’t exist, his face serene and calm. It was a good look on him. He leaned closer, enjoying the heir’s presence close to him.

“Alright, I-” Futaba cut herself off as she noticed two things: her clean room, and Akira looking like he was five centimeters too close to a sleeping Hikaru on her bed.

She chose to call out the latter.

“Akira, what the fuck?” Said teen jolted back, his face turning bright red. He turned to glare at Futaba, who looked unashamed, unwrapping the curry and taking a bite. It was a bit cold, but she didn’t really care that much.

“Don’t fuck on my bed.” Akira seemed to flush even redder at that.

“I’m not that horny!” He whispered loudly. Futaba nodded her head sarcastically. She once again looked at the sleeping Hikaru, and snorted.

“Sure.”

“I’m not!”

“You didn’t say you wouldn’t, though.”

Akira had no response to that. He opened his mouth but shut it quickly. It took him a moment to respond. “You’re supposed to be a kid, Futaba.”

“And you’re supposed to be a mature teenager, but here we are, you moments away from smashing Hikaru had I not interjected. All with me in the room, mind you. Plus, he’s asleep! I’m kinkshaming so hard right now.”

“Look, I’m not going to fuck Hikaru while he’s asleep, what kind of sick monster do you take me for?!”

“How the fuck do I know?!”

“You literally spend your time watching me in Leblanc!”

“And I’ve seen your browser history, there’s some cursed shit on that!”

“You know you two are loud, right?”

Both of them snapped their heads towards the cat on Hikaru. Morgana glared at them, roused from his sleep. “You’re lucky Hikaru’s still somehow asleep through all that. This is a cursed conversation right here.”

Akira groaned. “Now I’m getting kinkshamed by a cat.”

“Not a cat, but yes. I now wonder what you’ve done on the bed I sleep on.”

“Nothing! I can control myself, thank you very much.”

“The things I’ve seen you search up proves otherwise. I feel so bad for Hikaru now.”

Hikaru stirred in his sleep. The three of them froze. He muttered something to himself, tilting his head, but remaining asleep. Akira let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Ok, look, I like the dude, but why the fuck do you think I’m some kinky demon who just wants sex?”

“Were you not just about to jump him a few moments ago? You know, do the horizontal tango?”

“No! We’re teenagers, for god’s sake! God, we’re not even dating!”

Futaba raised her eyebrows in genuine confusion at that. “You’re not?”

“No! I sure would like to, but I don’t know how the hell he feels! I’m not going to force him into anything!” Akira turned bright red as he said all of that, making glances at Hikaru to make sure the heir was still asleep every now and then.

“…Well. You’re a hopeless one, aren’t you?”

“…Yeah.”

Futaba giggled to herself. She then remembered why she turned around in the first place. “Oh yeah, Medjed’s done. No need to worry about them.”

Akira thanked whatever god out there for the subject change. “Thanks. I’ll inform everyone else about it.”

“No problem, just holding up my end of the deal. You can head back to Leblanc first, I’ll tell Hikaru to go over when he wakes up. You can discuss your steamy sex preferences there, not in some girl’s bedroom.”

Akira threw a pillow at Futaba. The girl let out an indignant squawk, but had a smile on her face. She turned back to the computer and began typing something else. The black-haired teen sighed, picking up Morgana and leaving the room.

Futaba stayed silent for a few moments, watching the cameras as Akira left the house. It was until he walked out of the house did she speak.

“You can wake up now, he’s gone.”

Hikaru slowly opened his eyes, letting out a breath. How Akira didn’t notice his face tinted red, he didn’t know. He sat up, facing Futaba who turned back around, a mischievous grin on her face.

“Why didn’t you join the kinkshaming?”

“Do you know how embarrassed he would be if he knew that I was awake through all of that? The man deserves some dignity.”

“But on a serious note, what do you feel about all of this? I’m no therapist, but it’s important to get these kinda situations over with, isn’t it? Or misunderstandings will just pile up.” Hikaru looked at Futaba in shock.

“Aren’t you supposed to be some shut-in who’s never seen the light in like a few years? You know, no idea what social interaction is? How the hell are you holding a conversation right now, let alone teaching me about social interactions?”

Futaba rolled her eyes. “I watch dramas and rom-coms. Besides, you’ve been to Leblanc enough times for me to understand you properly. It’s like the same thing with Akira. I know who you are, and how you act. You gave me that report. I know you won’t hurt me, so there’s nothing to be scared of.” A dark glint shined in her eyes. “I suppose you could say you’re basically family.”

“Futaba, I’m seventeen,” Hikaru said with a deadpan, “I don’t think I’ll be marrying Akira any time soon.”

“How did you reach that conclusion?” Futaba feigned innocence, whistling a tune.

“You’re a gremlin.”

“That is what happens when you are exposed to the internet in large quantities, yes.”

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_AK:_ ** _everyone gather_

**_AT:_ ** _here!_

**_RS:_ ** _sup_

**_YK:_ ** _I am present._

**_MN:_ ** _Is something wrong?_

**_HA:_ ** _henlo_

**_AK:_ ** _Medjed is dealt with according to futaba_

**_FS:_ ** _ye_

**_FS:_ ** _also did you guys know that akira-_

**_AK:_ ** _alright thank you for helping us with Medjed_

**_FS:_ ** _you didn’t let me finish_

**_AK:_ ** _i don’t think you want to finish_

**_HA:_ ** _?????_

**_AK:_ ** _don’t worry sweet summer child_

**_RS:_ ** _uhhh did something happen today_

**_AT:_ ** _yea what happened??_

**_AK:_ ** _don’t u all worry about it ok_

**_AK:_ ** _everything’s ok_

**_MN:_ ** _…If you say so._

**_YK:_ ** _I just looked at the Medjed website. Fantastic job, Futaba._

**_FS:_ ** _ofc who tf u think I am_

**_RS:_ ** _what’s on it_

**_RS:_ ** _oh shit_

**_RS:_ ** _yo that’s dope!!_

**_AT:_ ** _that’s so cool!_

**_MN:_ ** _It is certainly satisfying, considering what we went through the entire summer._

**_AK:_ ** _speaking of which, are you all free tomorrow_

**_MN:_ ** _Considering it is still summer break, I think we all are…_

**_RS:_ ** _yep_

**_AT:_ ** _mhm!_

**_YK:_ ** _I can take a day off of painting. It is nice to have a change of pace._

**_HA:_ ** _i think im good_

**_AK:_ ** _alright come over to leblanc tomorrow_

**_AK:_ ** _futaba too_

**_FS:_ ** _…but tomorrow’s a weekend_

**_AK:_ ** _…and?_

**_FS:_ ** _the cafe will be open_

**_FS:_ ** _there will be…customers_

**_AK:_ ** _we’re going to be in the attic so I think it’ll be fine_

**_AK:_ ** _I hope_

**_FS:_ ** _hnnnnn_

**_FS:_ ** _okay :/_

**_YK:_ ** _I never understood the use of emoticons. Why not just say what you feel?_

**_HA:_ ** _ >:O_

**_FS:_ ** _(^o^)/_

**_HA:_** _(*´_ _∀_ _｀_ _*_ _人_ _*´_ _∀_ _｀_ _*)_

**_FS:_ ** _OwO_

**_HA:_ ** _that’s cursed_

**_RS:_ ** _what the hecc am i looking at_

**_AK:_ ** _who the fuck knows_

_~~~_

“…”

The awkwardness in the room was shattered by a loud slurp from Futaba. She made intense eye contact as she slurped up the noodles in her instant yakisoba, not flinching as all of the Thieves stared at her.

Akira was the first to laugh. Then Ryuji, then Ann, and finally everyone else. Futaba grinned. First impressions were important. She needed to drive the point that she was, first and foremost, a meme lord, and a ball of social anxiety second.

That was why Futaba immediately hid in her knees, avoiding eye contact. Morgana jumped onto the table in front of her, giving her a small meow. She tentatively reached a hand out and pat him on the head, and when it wasn’t met with resistance, pulled him into her embrace.

“Warm kitty…wise kitty…” She whispered, holding him tight. Morgana made a weird noise and tried to wiggle his way out of Futaba’s grasp, but she had a tight hold. He eventually gave up, sending a pathetic, begging look towards Hikaru. The heir grinned, not moving an inch from where he was on Akira’s bed.

“How about this? We can each spend time around Futaba to allow her to get used to all of our presence. Is that okay, Futaba?” Makoto spoke gently, not wanting to scare the younger.

“Ooh, at the end of it, can we all go to the beach?! It’s summer, it’ll be stupid not to go!” Ann suggested with a chirpy tone, a gleam of excitement in her eyes.

“The beach?! That’s like a super end-game boss! I’m underlevelled as fuck! How the hell?!” Futaba protested. Hikaru spoke up from his spot.

“Then consider this your training arc.”

Futaba deflated but didn’t deny it. She slumped into her seat, once again pulling Morgana closer. The cat yowled but didn’t thrash around in fear of hurting the girl. Also, not that he’d admit it, but he enjoyed the cuddling a tad bit.

“We’ll say at the end of this week, if all goes well, we can see about the beach thing, alright?” Makoto compromised, Ann nodding along excitedly.

“Alright, then starting tomorrow, we’d have to get Futaba accommodated to people. We’ll start easy, alright?” That seemed to give Futaba some small amount of reassurance.

“We’ll start with something simple. Just a conversation, in your room. Who’d be free tomorrow? Ideally, I would say start with Ryuji.”

“Sorry, I have to help my mom with something, probably the entire tomorrow,” Ryuji apologized.

“I have to help Shiho with packing everything, and pick up some things too…” Ann looked away, lowering her head.

“That’s fine. Hikaru, Yusuke?”

“Sorry, I have to help my father with some administrative businesses, since summer is about to end. He wants me to prepare for the upcoming cocktail parties we’d have to attend.”

“I think I have the day off tomorrow. I can come along tomorrow to help Futaba.”

Makoto nodded. “Alright, so tomorrow will be me, Yusuke, and Akira?”

“Yep. Is that alright with you, Futaba?”

Futaba took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for tomorrow. It was going to be hard, but she could do it. She had to. She had to make up for all the time she had lost, losing herself in the maze of her mind. There was no more maze. There is nothing holding her back except herself now.

“…It’s fine. I’ll be fine. You’re going to be there, right?” Akira nodded, reaching over and patting her on the head.

~~~

Hikaru sighed, following his father as they arrived at a branded store in the mall. The crowd around them didn’t lessen at all, even with the large amounts of bodyguards and security surrounding the father and son. Everyone was eager to see the CEO of the most influential company in Japan, and the one who was destined to follow in his footsteps.

That doesn’t mean that it’s any better. It’s annoying to be constantly followed by paparazzi, and even more so when they don’t seem to take the hint that they were here purely for leisure. Well, mostly, at least. His father heard Hikaru let out a soft whine.

“I know you hate it, but we have to. It’s important to make sure that we don’t get arrogant under the public’s view,” Kazuyoshi whispered under his breath to his son, smiling at another set of cameras. Hikaru forced a smile but walked a bit faster to get out of the mess that was the storefront and into the store.

There, the manager personally welcomed them in, bowing slightly. “We have heard of your arrival, Aozora-san. Please, take your time in browsing whatever suits your fancy. Should you need any assistance, I will be readily available.”

“Go find a nice suit, Hikaru. You can ask Yamato for advice if you’re not sure which one works.” His father left, bringing along a personal secretary, leaving him with his assistant, Yamato. The older man smiled at the heir.

“Shall we look around, Young Master?”

Hikaru let out a deep breath through his nose. “I don’t think we have a choice. Do you think he’ll be mad if I got an outrageously colored suit?”

“Possibly, but the master would definitely forget about it quickly. The media won’t, however. But my job description is to not allow such things to happen.”

“That’s very tempting, Yamato-san.”

“I would love for me to keep my job, Young Master.” Hikaru snickered, a smile growing on Yamato’s face as well.

“Sadly, I want that too.”

The two walked around the store, with Yamato picking out outfits and Hikaru either putting it aside to try or rejecting. He ended with two suits that were good enough, and since he couldn’t decide between the two, he just got both of them. It wasn’t like he was struggling in terms of money. Some of the suits from last year were getting a bit tight, anyway.

He spent a total of about an hour in the store, his father having moved on to an accessory store across a few minutes ago. He trusted Yamato to take care of his son, so he decided to lead some of the annoying journalists over to somewhere else, giving Hikaru a few moments of respite.

“Would you like accessories, Young Master? A new watch, perhaps?” Yamato suggested.

“Screw a watch, that’s what a phone’s for. We’re going to the video game store.” Yamato let out a deep breath but couldn’t stop the fond smile on his face.

They went towards the store, Hikaru shaking in excitement when they declared the new _Pokémon_ games. It looked so amazing, and as a long-time Pokémon fan, he was hyped as all hell. He also picked up some console games while he was there, seeing as he needed something to play.

They left after that, but not before they got a glance at the large TV screen playing the news.

_“The Medjed website has been tampered with, showing the logo of the Phantom Thieves. Furthermore, a man’s identity has been leaked, possibly a member of Japan’s branch of Medjed. We have yet to receive anything on Medjed’s end.”_

Hikaru suppressed a grin.

“Young Master, are you interested in these Phantom Thieves as well?”

Hikaru shrugged. “Consider it a hobby.”

~~~

“We’re here!”

Considering that it was Ann and Ryuji together next, Hikaru made sure to be there as well. Futaba would need it.

He sipped the cup of coffee Sojiro provided, idly scrolling on his phone. Futaba was beside him, on her laptop, gathering info on his request. Hikaru wanted to see what she could get surrounding Akechi and any traces of external involvement in the mental shutdown cases.

Futaba squeaked when the two blondes entered loudly with bright smiles, carrying large bags of snacks. She unconsciously leaned a bit closer to Hikaru, who glared at them with a tired expression.

“It’s nine in the morning, why are you both so happy?”

“Oh, lighten up!” Ann slapped his arm, Hikaru letting out a grumble. He took another sip of coffee, taking a deep breath. And then decided he needed more, so he chugged the entire cup.

“I don’t even know if Akira’s awake. Go check on him, why don’t you. I’ll bring Futaba up in a moment.” The two nodded, happily chatting as they went upstairs. Hikaru heard a loud groan, followed by yelling. He sighed, taking the short moment to properly wake up from the day. Futaba groaned, looking at the heir with a pleading look. Hikaru responded by not making eye contact as he stared off into the distance.

“Everything is alright.” Whether that statement was to Futaba or Hikaru himself, no one would know. The sheer lifelessness in Hikaru’s eyes made Futaba snicker to herself.

“Let’s go, Futaba. Let’s go save Akira before the two of them break him.” Futaba slumped in defeat but didn’t object as Hikaru pulled her along up the stairs.

“Are they really that bad?”

“Individually, no. Together, yes. Their idiocy bounces off of each other and amplifies. You’ll see what I mean.” They arrived upstairs just in time to see Ryuji and Ann trying to pull Akira out of the bed but somehow ending up in some weird position where Ryuji was under Akira.

“What the fuck happened here?” Futaba whispered.

“Who knows? I’ve stopped trying.”

“Hikaru! Akira doesn’t want to get out of bed!” Ryuji complained.

“And what’s whining to me going to do about it?”

“Help us!”

“Fuck them, help me! It’s nine in the morning, way too early for this bullshit!”

Hikaru covered Futaba’s ears. “There are children present, Akira.”

“Fuck off!” Akira resisted even harder, pressing on Ryuji to stop him from pulling the leader of the Phantom Thieves from his bed. Hikaru sighed, approaching Akira. He whispered something in Akira’s ear, causing Akira’s eyes to widen.

_“Get up, and maybe I’ll take you on a date some other day.”_

He startled onto his feet, face turning bright red. Ann and Ryuji’s jaws dropped open. “How the fuck?”

Akira turned an even brighter red, eyes averted from Hikaru’s gaze. Hikaru winked at him, giving him a small kiss on the cheek. Ann squealed, Futaba squealed, heck, Ryuji squealed. Akira froze, letting out a soft whimper when he felt Hikaru’s lips on his cheek.

Everyone was still for a moment.

“What’s all the commotion about?” Morgana growled, stirring from his sleep. He crawled on top of Ryuji and curled up again. “Is Akira finally confessing or something?”

Akira grabbed Morgana and proceeded to fling him out the window, the cat yowling as he did. Futaba had unconsciously clung onto Ann as they both watched the development that was happening. The only sign that showed Hikaru was at all embarrassed by what happened was the small flush on his cheeks. Meanwhile, Akira was as red as a tomato, eyes averted.

“Yo, I’ve never seen Akira like that at all…” Ryuji gasped, eyes wide and jaw still open.

“H-Hikaru…” Akira stammered out, blushing like a schoolgirl. It was cute.

“Akira.”

“Did you mean what you said?”

“Yes. Now help Futaba out. I’m going somewhere for a bit.” And Hikaru left, leaving the four teenagers stunned in the attic.

“Akira, you’re so fucked…” Futaba muttered.

“He played you like a fucking fiddle…” Ann continued.

Akira covered his red face with his hands, letting out a whine. “…I’m so fucked.”

~~~

Meanwhile, Hikaru was desperately trying to calm down his racing heart. He was by the small playground in the block behind the café, taking deep breaths.

_“Why the fuck did I do that?!”_

Didn’t he just tell Makoto a few days ago that he still didn’t know how he felt? So who was he to do something stupid like this?! At this point, he’s just leading on Akira without even knowing about his own feelings. That made him feel awful.

But did he really not know how he felt?

It was quite obvious that there was some form of attraction between him and the black-haired teen. He definitely knows the limit between love and friendship, and their relationship was definitely toying with that limit. Comparing their relationship to, let’s say, him and Ryuji, the difference was clear.

The problem lied in his own inexperience with friendships. His friendships in the past were shaky, to say the least, and definitely not a good guideline on what normal friendships looked like.

Hikaru groaned, slumping against the stone wall behind him.

“What are you doing out here, kid?” Hikaru looked up to see Sojiro carrying a bag of groceries.

“Nothing, just thinking about some things.” He replied. Sojiro raised an eyebrow, before a look of realization dawned on his face.

“You having girl issues?” He asked with a teasing smirk. Hikaru sighed, not sure how to address the issue that he liked both guys and girls without any more awkwardness.

“More like…guy issues?” He answered meekly, scratching the back of his head. Sojiro had a moment of stunned silence, and then realized what Hikaru meant. He nervously glanced at Sojiro, who had a calming smile. That reassured the heir greatly.

“Then it’s guy issues. I won’t judge you for that. But,” he grinned here, “do I know him?”

Hikaru chuckled. “I sure hope so, he lives in your café.”

“Oh boy, you’re in for a tough one. Akira doesn’t seem like the type to be forward.” Sojiro seemed to not have any qualms about their possible relationship, so Hikaru was a lot less nervous.

“You’d be surprised how shameless he is sometimes,” Hikaru commented, hearing distant shouting as they walked back.

“What the _fuck_ , Akira?!” Hikaru heard a familiar voice yell. He went around the corner to pick up Morgana, who was less than happy that he was thrown out the window like a ball. So unhappy that he had been yelling profanities by the window for the past ten minutes.

“Why don’t you just climb back up and yell at him there?” Hikaru suppressed a chuckle as Morgana slinked up to his usual spot by Hikaru’s shoulder.

“He should be the one coming down to get me! And he’s the one who can’t handle his hormones!” Hikaru stroked him on the ear. The cat immediately silenced, purring softly.

“He’s at fault, isn’t he? Let’s go get him to apologize.” Sojiro held the door open, nodding at Hikaru when he entered with the cat.

“You’ll be fine, Aozora. If anything, Akira should be the scared one.” Sojiro chuckled. He watched as the young heir went up the stairs, and shouts and yells ensued, followed by loud hissing and meowing. The older man sighed, going to collect the cup left earlier to wash. How long has it been since the café was this lively?

What a time to be young, he mused to himself.

~~~

“Futaba seems to be making good progress, don’t you think?”

Everyone has left, leaving Akira and Hikaru alone in the attic. The awkward atmosphere could be felt, and Morgana had decided that he wasn’t going to see whatever would happen in here, opting to go on an evening stroll.

“Yeah.” Akira still couldn’t look Hikaru in the eyes, blushing slightly. Hikaru has been trying to have a conversation for about an hour now, but Akira has been deflecting and giving short answers. This was starting to get annoying.

“Akira.”

“What?”

Hikaru stood up from the seat he was in. Akira got up as well. The heir walked closer, and Akira unconsciously took a step back. This continued until Akira’s back hit the back of the wall. Akira tried to squeeze his way out, but Hikaru slammed a hand on the wall on Akira’s left, pinning the black-haired teen under him.

“Look at me.” Akira’s face reddened again as he turned slowly to face Hikaru. Hikaru’s eyes turned sultry, a tongue coming out to wet his lips. His eyes narrowed, staring deeply into Akira’s. He leaned in, lips brushing against Akira’s ear. Akira shuddered, feeling a moment of panic as the distance between them decreased.

“Why won’t you talk to me?” Hikaru’s question was barely above a whisper.

“I…” Akira couldn’t form a sentence with his brain turning to mush. He felt like his entire body was burning up. He gulped audibly, trembling slightly from where he was pinned.

“Do you really hate me that much?” A small tinge of sadness was in Hikaru’s voice. Akira was quick to deny it.

“No! It’s not that, it’s just…”

“Just?”

Akira couldn’t hold it in anymore. “I like you! I don’t know since when, but I’ve been in love with you for a while, and I don’t know what to do about it!” he exclaimed loudly.

Hikaru didn’t move from where he had Akira pinned, face hidden from Akira’s view.

“I wanted to make sure you felt the same, and I know these kind of things are still somewhat new to you, so I didn’t want to rush it, plus Ann and Ryuji kept saying that I should just get it over with, and you seemed to be flirting with me too,” Akira rambled, face turning brighter as he continued.

Hikaru’s other hand came up to cover Akira’s mouth, quieting the rambling teen. He lifted it up once Akira stopped. “You done now?”

Akira nodded mutely. Hikaru’s face reappeared in Akira’s view. The heir was smiling.

Hikaru leaned in to kiss him. Akira startled in shock, but slowly melted into the kiss, eyes closing shut. They stayed there for a moment, enjoying each other’s presence.

Akira felt fireworks erupt under his eyelids. His stomach performed somersaults all over, his brain was malfunctioning, but he couldn’t stop the stupid grin from forming on his face. And it seemed Hikaru felt the same. The heir was also giddy from this, hands moving to hold onto Akira’s waist.

Hikaru had his answer now. As the kiss deepened, he felt his resolve strengthen. This was what he wanted, no matter what it was called. He wanted to be with Akira, and that’s all. Nothing else was important, just the person in front of him. He then internally chided himself for caring about the trivial matters of this, when he could’ve done this since the start.

They separated after a few moments, both panting slightly. Their eyes gleamed under the soft artificial light of the attic as they stared at each other for a few moments, grins on their faces. Akira grabbed Hikaru’s shoulders and leaned in once again, and, well, who was Hikaru to decline?

They broke apart after another few minutes. Hikaru stopped it from going any further, pulling them apart and taking a few steps back, slightly flushed himself.

“…Can we do that again?” Akira asked dumbly, making Hikaru laugh.

“Did you fry your brain or something?”

Akira nodded. Hikaru laughed again, and leaned over, giving a soft kiss to Akira’s forehead.

“It’s getting late, and I should go. We’ll talk about this some other day, alright?” Once again, Akira nodded, and Hikaru was gone, leaving the dazed teen alone in the attic. He immediately rolled around on his bed, letting out whines and squeals as he thought about what just happened. Akira pulled out his phone and started texting Ryuji.

**_PM: AK - > RS_ **

**_AK:_ ** _we did it_

**_AK:_ ** _he kissed me_

**_RS:_ ** _!!!_

**_RS:_ ** _wait he kissed you not you kissed him_

**_AK:_ ** _that is correct_

**_RS:_ ** _you my friend are what we call a gay disaster_

**_AK:_ ** _also correct_

**_RS:_ ** _well at least it means something_

**_RS:_ ** _hes interested in you!!!_

**_RS:_ ** _although that’s kinda obvious considering what happened earlier today_

**_AK:_ ** _…_

**_RS:_ ** _but he was the one who did it_

**_RS:_ ** _not you_

**_AK:_ ** _ok look_

**_RS:_ ** _does that mean_

**_AK:_ ** _ryuji_

**_RS:_ ** _hikaru is the confident gay here_

**_AK:_ ** _…no comment_

**_RS:_ ** _holy shit_

**_RS:_ ** _ann owes me money_

**_RS:_ ** _i told you hikaru was secretly alpha_

**_AK:_ ** _he can dominate me in bed_

**_RS:_ ** _and that’s where ill stop_

**_RS:_ ** _i don’t wanna hear your sexual fantasies_

**_AK:_ ** _i almost popped a hard one when he kissed me_

**_RS:_ ** _holy fuck_

**_AK:_ ** _hey you said the f word_

**_AK:_ ** _that’s a bad word :o_

**_RS:_ ** _shut_

**_RS:_ ** _but anyways im going to party and celebrate for a bit_

**_RS:_ ** _have fun thinking about innocent hikaru totally wrecking you in bed_

**_AK:_ ** _…now how am i supposed to sleep tonight_

_~~~_

**_PM: FS - > HA_ **

**_FS:_ ** _holy shit you did it_

**_FS:_ ** _you absolute madman_

**_HA:_ ** _someone needs to start something_

**_HA:_ ** _does it look like akira will initiate anything hes blushing like a schoolgirl_

**_FS:_ ** _akira is such a bottom_

**_HA:_ ** _…what the fuck_

**_FS:_ ** _i speak facts here_

**_FS:_ ** _only facts_

**_FS:_ ** _you wanna see his chat with ryuji rn_

**_HA:_ ** _i dont think i want to for fear of my sanity_

**_HA:_ ** _im going to sleep now_

**_FS:_ ** _its 7pm_

**_HA:_ ** _its never too early for sleep_

**_FS:_ ** _fair enough_

**_FS:_ ** _gnight_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta da, that's it. No pining, no drama. Well, maybe not no drama.


	29. Beach Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beach day. Thirst ensues.

The day of the beach trip was here. Futaba was, understandably, nervous as all hell. Akira, however, was nervous for a whole different reason.

Over the past few days, Hikaru hasn’t been in Leblanc for coffee like usual, only coming during a Phantom Thieves meeting or whenever there was business that needed to be done. Akira was worried that maybe he did something wrong, or Hikaru was having second thoughts. What if he was mistaken that Hikaru liked him?

Of course, Ryuji was quick to dismiss those thoughts.

_“Look, if he didn’t like you, why the hell would’ve he kissed you? I don’t know, but that’s a big sign for me,” Ryuji said with a deadpan as they waited for fish to bite the bait. Fishing definitely took patience, patience that Ryuji didn’t have much of._

_“I don’t know, maybe he pitied me?” Akira’s head was in his hands._

_“Trust me when I say this, Hikaru isn’t that insensitive. He knows what to do when it’s important.” Ryuji watched the surface of the water for any signs of ripples._

_“But he’s also too nice for his own good. He asks permission before doing background checks when he could’ve just done it without anyone knowing.” Ryuji sighed._

_“He still cares about you, doesn’t he? Even in our meetings, he still sends you glances and keeps the discussion going.”_

_“But who knows how he’s feeling? If it were anyone else, I could just ask Hikaru, but it had to be him…” Akira groaned. “By the way, your rod.”_

_Ryuji grabbed his rod as the fish just bit the bait. He slowly reeled it in, then yanked heavily, pulling the fish out and into the bucket they prepared._

_“Thanks. But seriously, dude, trust me when I say you’ll be fine and you’re worried about nothing. In fact, who knows, Hikaru might be worried about the same shit since you didn’t approach him or anything.”_

That didn’t resolve the issue that Hikaru still hadn’t said anything to him, or that he seemed to be avoiding him. This beach day was Akira’s one chance to talk to Hikaru about what happened, and he needed the closure, whether it was good or bad. The anticipation is actually killing him.

They agreed to meet up at the beach so that whoever gets there first could get a nice spot. Since it was summer, it was bound to be packed. By the time Akira and Futaba arrived, they could see that some of the Thieves were already in their swimming clothes, sitting under an umbrella surrounded by many people.

“Oh fuck…” Akira muttered to himself. He was a fool.

He didn’t think about how good Hikaru would look shirtless.

The heir was laying on the towel, staring out into the distance. He had on a thin unzipped short-sleeved hoodie and navy-blue knee-length swimming shorts. Next to him was Makoto, who had brought a large cooler of drinks for all of them.

Hikaru groaned, going over to grab a drink. Akira gulped audibly, seeing the barely formed muscles on Hikaru’s torso shift as he got up. He watched as Hikaru took a sip of soda, his Adam’s apple highlighted by a small sheen of sweat as he tipped his head back. Akira felt an urge to mark that clear neck, down that smooth chest, to…

His thoughts were interrupted by Futaba nudging him on the side, giving him a cheeky smirk.

“Like what you see?” she whispered.

“Shut the fuck up, you little gremlin,” Akira said to Futaba, but his eyes remained glued on Hikaru. That made the girl laugh. The heir turned over in their direction and, noticing them, smiled at Akira. The sun suddenly felt so much hotter to Akira.

“Hey. You can leave your stuff here, everyone’s changing over there.” Hikaru pointed to the public toilets a short distance away. The two nodded, and Futaba began nervously muttering under her breath. Makoto got up and grabbed Futaba’s hand.

“Come on, I’ll help you get changed.” Futaba nervously followed Makoto, grabbing her swimsuit from her bag.

Hikaru gave Akira a glance, but returned to where he laid, Morgana coming out to lie down next to him. Akira gathered his swimsuit and went off to change, face slightly flushed. Was it from the heat?

“You know he was thirsting from all the way over there?” Morgana said, not checking if Akira was actually gone.

Hikaru looked around and, seeing no sign of the other male, hummed. “Of course I know. I could feel his eyes all the way from here.” He smirked to himself. “Not like I hate it or anything.”

“God, you’re just as bad as him.” Hikaru chuckled, reaching over to scratch Morgana on the ears. He closed his eyes and breathed, expanding his powers and locking on to the readings of the Thieves. A loud yell resounded through the beach, catching the attention of some people around them. Hikaru opened his eyes and sighed.

He turned his head over to see Futaba with an absurd amount of paper towels wrapped around her head, and Ryuji having what seemed to be a mini heart attack. Hikaru groaned, raising an arm over his face, covering his eyes. Maybe if he ignored it, it’ll go away.

“Hey, Hikaru,” came Futaba’s muffled voice.

Without lifting his arm, Hikaru replied. “I swear to god, Futaba, if you still have your paper towel head I will punt you across the beach.”

“Aw, you’re no fun.” She unfurled the paper towels, taking a seat next to the heir. Her voice was a bit shaky as she glanced around. “But still, there’s a lot of people, huh?”

“That’s a given since it’s almost the end of summer. You feeling ok?” He lifted his arm, staring into Futaba’s shaky eyes. She took a deep breath, calming herself down.

“Yeah, I think I’ll be fine. Just don’t leave me alone and everything should be fine.” Hikaru gave her a reassuring smile.

“Alright losers, we girls are going on a banana boat!” Ann announced as she grabbed Futaba and Makoto’s arms.

“We are?” Makoto asked. Ann gave her a wink, and Makoto immediately caught on. “Oh, was that what you were reserving a moment ago?”

“Yep! It’s only for three people, so sorry boys,” Ann said with a playful smirk.

“What?! Then what the hell are we supposed to do?” Ryuji exclaimed.

“I don’t know, watch our stuff?” Ann suggested, and pulled the other girls away before they could argue further. “See you later!”

“Hey, wait!” Ryuji deflated, slouching further. “What the hell, we’re on a beach and we’re forced to watch stuff?”

“You can go swimming or something if you want, I’ll be here,” Hikaru informed the others, slipping on some sunglasses that he brought. He internally sighed in comfort, no longer having to look at the glaring sun.

“Now I feel kinda bad dumping all our stuff on you…” Ryuji mumbled.

“Don’t worry about it. Go have fun, pick up girls, or whatever the heck you plan to do on a summer day on the beach.” Hikaru waved him off, slipping his arms under his head.

“Here, I’ll stay with him if it makes you feel any better. Go take Yusuke on a girl hunt or something, I don’t know.” Hikaru watched from his peripheral as Akira sat down on the towel next to him. Ryuji had a moment of realization at what Akira was doing and nodded eagerly.

“Well, if you’re sure. Come on, Yusuke, we’ll get you a girlfriend, you lonely Van Gogh reject.”

“I’ll have you know that I am currently not-” Whatever else Yusuke said was overlapped with whatever Ryuji was saying, becoming a jumbled mess of words that got softer as they went further.

Hikaru sighed as the two boys left, leaving him alone with Akira. Well, Morgana was there, so not really, but who knows how long he’ll stay once he realizes what’s going to happen.

“Hey, Hikaru?”

“Yeah?” Hikaru closed his eyes, not moving from his position.

“Can I ask you something?” He could feel Akira’s nervousness from here.

“You just did, but what’s up?” Hikaru couldn’t resist the chance to tease Akira. It was just too good to pass up.

“No, it’s just…Did I do something wrong?” Hikaru groaned internally. He should’ve expected this, with how he acted. He just wanted to give what happened a moment to confirm his feelings, but Hikaru supposed it might’ve not seemed like that for Akira.

“No, not particularly, what’s wrong?”

“Then why are you avoiding me?”

How was Hikaru supposed to say that he wasn’t avoiding him, but more just scared of his own feelings? Scared of the small chance that what he felt wasn’t actual affection, but him clinging to any sign of affection from someone who saw him as Hikaru, not an heir of the Aozora? How does he explain that?

Hikaru sighed, sitting up. He beckoned Akira closer, and he did so. Hikaru lifted his glasses onto his forehead and leaned in to give Akira a quick smooch on his lips. Akira backed away quickly, eye wide and face reddening. Hikaru smiled.

“I’m not avoiding you, just have to figure something out on my end. It’s not your fault, I’m just thinking and don’t want to mix you up in all of it. Does that help?” Hikaru said that all with a somber tone, not matching the cheerful atmosphere of the beach entirely. Akira stayed silent, eventually pulling Hikaru closer into his embrace.

“Hikaru.” The heir felt his face flush slightly.

“Yeah?”

“Are we dating?” Hikaru couldn’t find an answer to that question and said so.

“I don’t know. I want to, but that’s not relevant here. What’s relevant is what you feel. Are you willing to date the heir of the Aozora, when doing so can put you in immediate danger? There are many people who would love to see me die, Akira, and me dating you will put you in that spotlight. Are you ready for that?”

Akira backed off, seeing a glint of something in Hikaru’s eyes. He grinned and tried to lighten the mood.

“You seem to forget that I’m a felon,” Akira tried to joke, but Hikaru rested his hands on Akira’s shoulders.

“I’m not kidding, Akira. If we go public with this, there are chances that you could be a target of assassination if you’re not careful. Who wouldn’t want the hand of the Aozora in marriage?” Akira now recognized that glint in Hikaru’s eyes. It was fear, the same fear he felt when he was convicted of assault. The fear of losing people close to you.

“Hikaru, I think I’ve made this clear enough, but I like you more than you think. Hell, I think I might’ve liked you since the start, but never realized it. You forget that we are Phantom Thieves, Hikaru. We can do things that normal people can’t.”

“But that’s not enough!” Hikaru shouted a bit too loudly. He began to tear up. “I told you, didn’t I? That I was scared of you all dying because of me? Now how would I feel if the one I truly love was dead because of my status?! You’re still human, Akira, and as long as you’re alive, I will worry about you.” Akira’s eyes widened.

Hikaru leaned in, resting his forehead against Akira’s. He let out a shaky breath. “This fear won’t just go away, Kira, as much as I hope for it to. That’s why I didn’t want to worry you…”

“Hikaru, if we are going to date, I need you to tell me these kinds of things. If I can’t reassure you, then at least let me know what’s on your mind. I don’t want to keep thinking that I fucked up or something, okay?” Akira gave him a soft kiss, a hand coming to rest on the back of Hikaru’s head.

“…Sorry,” Hikaru muttered. He wiped off any tears before they formed with the hem of his hoodie, a shaky smile on his face. “I keep forgetting that things are different now.”

“That’s right. You’re not the only one who has to care for everyone else. I’m here to catch you when you fall, and so is the rest of the Thieves. You’re not alone anymore.” Akira caught Hikaru’s lips in another kiss, the heir smiling into it.

“I guess this means that we’re dating?” Akira asked once they broke, a grin on his face.

“I guess it does.” Hikaru grinned back. He got up, eyes flashing a dark blue. He offered a hand to Akira, who took it. “Now come on, we gotta go save our friends.”

“What’s up?” Akira asked, startled by the sudden change in demeanor.

“Ann and the girls ran into some trouble. Yusuke and Ryuji are still quite far away, so we have to do something.” Akira nodded, following Hikaru’s lead.

“What do you girls think, wanna get on our yacht party?” A sleazy voice slurred loudly. A man and his two lackeys had Ann, Makoto, and Futaba surrounded. Futaba looked terrified, whereas Makoto and Ann just seemed sick of this. Hikaru could tell that they were just about one step from breaking the man’s wrist and probably his nose.

But the only thought going through Hikaru’s head was:

_God, who drinks in the morning? That’s so weird. And sad._

Hikaru voiced that out exactly.

“Who the fuck are you?! These bitches yours?” He growled at Hikaru, not noticing who exactly he was insulting. Now that Hikaru looked at him, he realized who exactly was the man in front of him. A popular noble, with relations to the imperial family of Japan. Quite the name to him.

“Uh, sir…?” His lackeys seemed a lot less drunk than him, easily recognizing the heir. Anyone worth their money in the upper echelons definitely knew the faces of the most influential family in the country.

“Shut the fuck up, you useless twats! I needa teach this fuckin’ kid a lesson on how to respect his elders!” The noble stumbled, pointing a menacing finger at him. “You should know the upper class when you see them, you little rat!”

“Sir…” The man to the right of the noble muttered, eyes not meeting Hikaru’s. The two of them were getting incredibly nervous as their employer continued to badmouth Hikaru, while the heir remained silent throughout the entire exchange. He had crossed his arms and waited patiently while the man ranted with an expressionless face. The only sign that Hikaru was getting affected, if at all, was his expression slowly hardening as the noble continued.

Hikaru finally said something once the noble finished. At this point, everyone in the vicinity had noticed what was happening, and those that recognized Hikaru immediately flinched, looking away from what was going to happen. The girls had gone silent, slightly stirring in anger at hearing their close friend and teammate getting badmouthed.

And Akira? Oh, he was positively furious.

The teen was fuming behind Hikaru but stayed silent. He knew that Hikaru could handle himself in a battle of wit, and definitely outranked this man in terms of status. But if this turned physical, Akira wasn’t afraid of getting another assault charge.

“Takeda-san.” The man raised an eyebrow when Hikaru said his name, not knowing how the heir knew it without him saying it.

“How drunk are you to not realize that you’ve been dissing the heir to the corporate throne of Japan for the past five minutes?” Takeda squinted, trying to understand what it is Hikaru had just said.

“The corporate throne of Japan belongs to the Aozora! Who the hell are you…” It was then that he finally sobered up enough to realize who he had been talking to all this time. His sentence remained unfinished.

“Are you finally awake enough?” Hikaru snapped his fingers in front of Takeda. The man’s lip started quivering once he realized what sin he had committed.

“…Forgive me, Aozora-san!” Hikaru groaned as Takeda prostrated himself in front of the young heir. The two lackeys behind him looked to be half a second from following Takeda’s footsteps, but a glare from Hikaru froze them in place.

“Take this drunkard out of my face,” Hikaru commanded. They jumped and quickly escorted Takeda away, who looked to be moments away from a mental breakdown. Once they were far away, Hikaru sighed, his stern expression melting away.

“Holy shit…that was amazing to watch,” Futaba whispered in awe. “Hikaru’s so alpha…”

“It comes with the whole ‘ruthless businessman’ appearance that’s apparently hereditary,” Hikaru joked, making everyone laugh.

Behind Hikaru, Ann nudged Akira, who had a slight blush on his face. “That was totally a turn-on for you, huh?”

“You think? You saw my text history with Ryuji.”

“That’s a yikes.”

~~~

The sun was beginning to set, and most people have left. The Phantom Thieves have packed up their things and were having one last walk by the beach before they left at Futaba’s request. She was crouched by the shore, eyes staring out into the evening sky.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Hikaru asked, sitting on the sand next to her.

It was. There were a sparse amount of clouds, which gave contrast to the colors of the sky. The sun was barely peeking out of the horizon, and everything was in a warm shade of orange. It was a normal sight, but when you took the time to appreciate it, it becomes more beautiful altogether.

“Yeah,” Futaba muttered. She turned around to everyone, a serious look on her face. “This might be sudden, but I wanna become a Phantom Thief.”

Akira smiled fondly. “I was going to ask you after this, but I guess this works.”

“I want to know the truth of what happened to Mom, and who was the one behind her death. I think the best place to look would be with you guys, and if we ever find him…” Futaba’s face darkened.

“We will change his heart.” Hikaru rested a hand on her shoulder. His eyes glowed a soft navy, warning him of her dangerous train of thought. He gave her a slow glance, noting the change in her demeanor. “We’ll get him, alright?”

“Yeah. We’ll get him.” She turned back to the group, returning back to her shy self. “So, I hope you all don’t mind if I join.”

“I mean, the more the merrier, isn’t it?” Ann replied happily.

“Yeah! Your Persona was so cool!” Ryuji exclaimed.

“You saved us in your Palace, so I have no complaints,” Yusuke said, crossing his arms.

“I’m more interested in your powers than anything,” Morgana remarked.

“Powers?”

“Awakening to your Persona will also come with a set of abilities, depending on your Persona’s capabilities. In my case,” Morgana demonstrated by jumping creating a strong gust of wind to keep him in the air. “It’s pretty straightforward for battle Personas, but navigation Personas have unique attributes that allow for stronger abilities in the real world for intel gathering.”

“For example, I can do this.” With a wave of Hikaru’s hand, multiple screens appeared around the Thieves, showing surveillance on many places and people that they had connections with. Another wave and it was gone. “Apollo’s innate communication ability that all navigation Personas have materializes as telepathy in the real world, so I think you should be able to do that, too. Just try thinking about it, and your Persona should do the rest.”

Futaba focused, and tried to transmit a mental message to Akira. The leader heard a different voice in his head, not the one he associated with Hikaru.

_“Yo, you hear me?”_

Akira nodded.

_Loud and clear._

_“That’s great and all, but just remember not to talk about some nasty shit, since I can hear all of this too.”_ Futaba glanced at Hikaru, and a nasty smirk grew on her face. Knowing where she was about to go with this, Akira immediately drove them out of his mind by repeatedly thinking about an annoying song that he heard while at his part-time job.

Hikaru winced, glaring at Akira while his eyes brightened back to its sky blue. “I hate that you know how to do that.”

“Let me try something.” Futaba closed her eyes and imagined a computer in front of her, and her fingers began flowing. She imagined the layout to be exactly like her own and opened her browser. When she opened her eyes, a neon screen was in front of her, glowing a dull green, as opposed to Hikaru’s blue. Below the screen was a keyboard. She began typing some code, and the screen flickered according to its commands.

“Huh…” Futaba twisted her fingers, and the screen distorted, shrinking into the size of her phone. She pulled out her phone and laid the screen on top, and to her amazement, her phone was showing the same display, but on the screen of the phone itself. There was no outside sign of tampering at all.

“So, whatever you can do on a computer, you can do anywhere? That’s pretty cool,” Hikaru commented. Futaba nodded, trying something else. She tried using her browser to play some music, and sure enough, music began playing softly around the Thieves. It wasn’t especially loud, but not too soft, either.

“Okay, but what about this…” Futaba muttered to herself. She tried hacking into the nearby surveillance camera, launching some code to override its system. The camera turned itself off, before turning itself back on again. She hummed. “So full utility is still reserved best for actual computers…”

“But the fact that it can disrupt or shut down electronics nearby for a short while is already impressive.” Makoto rested a finger on her chin. “Navigation Personas do have the best abilities for overall utility…”

Hikaru shook his head. “But we lack firepower, Makoto. If it comes down to a fight, Futaba won’t be able to hold herself at all. I can due to Apollo’s unique nature of switching between modes, but it’s not like that for everyone. But Futaba, can you try something for me?”

“Sure?”

“Try boosting stats, see what effects that will have.” Futaba hummed, resting a hand on Hikaru’s arm. A soft, green light glowed from her hands, and Hikaru suddenly felt light on his feet. He jumped small hops on the spot, feeling his body to be much lighter and flexible.

“That was a Suku buff. How does it feel?” Hikaru grinned.

“Amazing. That works well, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I think I need to be in physical contact for that to work in the real world.” She swiped her hand, removing the computer.

“Say, don’t we have to decide Futaba’s codename now?” Ryuji recalled.

“Uhh, I can’t think of anything good,” Ann wondered out loud. “Hacker?”

“God, that’s awful,” Futaba cringed. Ann pouted, slightly shamed.

“Pharaoh?” Akira suggested. Futaba gave him a judging look, which he looked away from. “I get it, but I can’t think of anything else…”

“This one is harder, definitely,” Yusuke said. “I have no clue.”

“How about Oracle?” Everyone turned to Hikaru. “She’s a guide that leads us to victory, so wouldn’t it work? Fits in with the whole mythology theme you’ve got going on here.”

“Oracle…sounds good. I’m fine with it.” She looked to Akira, who shrugged.

“If you’re fine with it, we’ll go with it.”

“Then Oracle it is!” Ryuji cheered. “Now how’re we doing the celebration party this time?”

“Wasn’t this the celebration party?” Hikaru asked, a smirk on his face. Ryuji scratched the back of his head, chuckling awkwardly.

“I guess…” Hikaru rolled his eyes, ruffling Ryuji’s hair. The blond let out a splutter, pouting as Hikaru laughed at his expression.

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_RS:_ ** _yo did u guys check the phansite???_

**_MN:_ ** _What’s new?_

**_YK:_ ** _There seems to be a new section, not yet revealed to the public._

**_AK:_ ** _Mishima told me about that, says hes working on something to help us decide on targets_

**_AK:_ ** _on that topic who’re we targetin next_

**_AT:_ ** _idk, some big-league corrupt dude?_

**_FS:_ ** _is this how the pts decide on targets?_

**_FS:_ ** _this is it???_

**_AK:_ ** _ye_

**_HA:_ ** _we have a list, we just cover our eyes and see where our finger lands_

**_FS:_ ** _…how you guys havent been arrested yet is a miracle_

**_HA:_ ** _ikr_

**_HA:_ ** _but i don’t think we’re gonna change any hearts so soon after medjed settled down_

**_HA:_ ** _plus theres the school trip before school starts_

**_AK:_ ** _oh shit the school trip_

**_RS:_ ** _…I remember that was a thing_

**_MN:_ ** _All of you forgot…_

**_AT:_ ** _no…_

**_MN:_ ** _Forgive me if I doubt you on that._

**_YK:_ ** _Where will you all be going on your trip?_

**_MN:_ ** _I believe that the second years will be going to Hawaii._

**_MN:_ ** _I have been asked to chaperone, so I’ll be going along as well._

**_YK:_ ** _Interesting. Kosei has chosen to go to Los Angeles, so I would be in the same country._

**_AK:_ ** _cool cool_

**_FS:_ ** _this is so sad_

**_FS:_ ** _ill be alone, in yongen_

**_AK:_ ** _ull have mona with you_

**_FS:_ ** _ill be alone with mona, in yongen_

**_HA:_ ** _i for one am kinda excited for this_

**_HA:_ ** _havent been to hawaii before_

**_MN:_ ** _I think most of us haven’t either._

**_AT:_ ** _i have with my parents once as a kid i think_

**_AT:_ ** _also makoto where are you_

**_MN:_ ** _By the cinema. I see you, I’m coming over._

**_AK:_ ** _Hikaru where are u_

**_HA:_ ** _at home why_

**_AK:_ ** _im sad and lonely_

**_HA:_ ** _what a shame_

**_HA:_ ** _i seem to be enjoying my couch potato life rn_

**_AK:_ ** _that’s great but i need attention :(_

**_HA:_ ** _futaba’s just around the corner_

**_HA:_ ** _in fact i don’t think she even needs to leave her place_

**_FS:_ ** _i don’t lemme astral project real quick_

**_HA:_ ** _lmao_

**_AK:_ ** _somebody come hang out with me_

**_HA:_ ** _aww is the baby bored_

**_AK:_ ** _yes_

**_HA:_ ** _well im sure someone can go entertain you but i need to go do adult things soon_

**_AK:_ ** _that sounds weird_

**_HA:_ ** _i just realized that yes_

**_FS:_ ** _akira is this your fetish_

**_RS:_ ** _was just about to say the same thing_

**_AT:_ ** _same_

**_AK:_ ** _all of you are disowned_

**_AK:_ ** _the pts consists of me, yusuke, makoto, mona, and hikaru_

**_AK:_ ** _dk the rest_

**_FS:_ ** _this is so sad_

**_AK:_ ** _futaba please stop blasting despacito in my ears_

**_AK:_ ** _your memes are outdated_

**_FS:_ ** _quality memes never die_

**_YK:_ ** _Akira, if you are free, could I come over? I have something I need to show you._

**_AK:_ ** _oh is it the thing_

**_YK:_ ** _I believe so, yes._

**_AK:_ ** _yea sure come over_

**_AK:_ ** _see someone cares for me_

**_HA:_ ** _i guess im a neglectful boyfriend_

**_AT:_ ** _hold up a minute_

**_HA:_ ** _well i gotta go now bye_

_~~~_

**_PM: AT - > HA_ **

**_AT:_ ** _boyfriend??!?!?!?!?_

**_AT:_ ** _did I read that wrong?????_

**_AT:_ ** _do my eyes deceive me????_

**_HA:_ ** _did they_

**_AT:_ ** _i think not_

**_AT:_ ** _hold on_

**_AT added HA and RS to a group!_ **

**_AT has changed the group name to ‘spill the tea’._ **

**_AT:_ ** _I need my partner in crime here_

**_RS:_ ** _it is i_

**_RS:_ ** _the relationship advisor_

**_HA:_ ** _add akira_

**_HA:_ ** _let him explain_

**_HA:_ ** _i actually need to get going_

**_AT added AK to ‘spill the tea’!_ **

**_AK:_ ** _oh dear_

**_HA:_ ** _do what the nice lady says ok bb_

**_AK:_ ** _yes daddy_

**_HA:_ ** _call me that again and we’re breaking up_

**_AK:_ ** _yes sir_

**_HA:_ ** _…why do i try_

**_HA:_ ** _ok im gone losers_

**_RS:_ ** _damn way to make me feel single_

**_AT:_ ** _ikr_

**_AT:_ ** _I mean me and makoto are getting crepes but I need to know this_

**_AT:_ ** _so akira spill_

**_AK:_ ** _idk what to tell you without giving away anything too private_

**_AK:_ ** _since a lot of this is indeed quite personal_

**_AK:_ ** _but since hikaru told me to tell you i guess ill tell you my part of it?_

**_RS:_ ** _whipped_

**_AK:_ ** _you right but shut_

**_AK:_ ** _now listen kids as your father tells you how he fell in love your other dad_

~~~

Hikaru internally flipped a coin. Heads he’ll say yes, tails no.

It landed on heads. He cursed himself.

It was a cocktail party. He wasn’t required to attend, but he knew that his father would want him to. Especially since the ones hosting it were the Okumuras, and they knew for a fact that Haru, the heiress to Okumura Foods, will definitely be there. It would seem rude of them to not bring Hikaru along.

But, as his father had said to him, it wasn’t a necessity. If he was busy or had something to do, it was perfectly fine for him to not attend. His father had recently tried not to push the duties of the Aozora too hard on Hikaru, especially after the events at Shujin. He wanted to make sure Hikaru was fine mentally, considering his past experiences in the public schooling system.

Hikaru sighed, pushing open the doors to his father’s office. His father looked up from some paperwork, nodding once when he saw Hikaru enter.

“I’ll attend the Okumura party,” Hikaru said, keeping it short and simple.

“Alright. It’s happening after you come back from the school trip, so just remember that.” Hikaru nodded and left.

He stopped by the small library beside his room on his way back, picking out some books to read. He wasn’t exactly rushing to get back to the whole text conversation about his relationship with Akira yet, so he took his time. Most books in this library he had read, but he didn’t mind rereading some. They were good books.

Time passed for around half an hour before he returned to his room, where he left his phone. He took a quick glance, but only replied to the latest one.

**_PM: AK - > HA_ **

**_AK:_ ** _i didn’t tell them everything, just the basics_

**_AK:_ ** _felt wrong if i told your story while you weren’t there_

**_HA:_ ** _thanks for that_

**_AK:_ ** _everything good there?_

**_HA:_ ** _yea no prob_

**_HA:_ ** _just have to attend some rich people event soon_

**_HA:_ ** _not looking forward to it at all_

**_AK:_ ** _aww poor baby_

**_HA:_ ** _you do know im technically older than you_

**_AK:_ ** _by a few months but sure_

**_AK:_ ** _whats your point_

**_HA:_ ** _i hate you_

**_AK:_ ** _no you don’t_

**_HA:_ ** _sadly, no i don’t_

**_AK:_ ** _btw i wanna show you something_

**_AK sent an image._ **

**_HA:_ ** _oh shit that pretty_

**_HA:_ ** _did yusuke paint that_

**_AK:_ ** _yes our child painted that_

**_AK:_ ** _aren’t you proud_

**_HA:_ ** _i thought makoto was team mom_

**_AK:_ ** _were the adoptive parents_

**_AK:_ ** _makotos the cool and responsible aunt we visit on weekends_

**_HA:_ ** _i guess i now have five whole children_

**_HA:_ ** _or four and a cat???_

**_AK:_ ** _ye_

**_HA:_ ** _i am a teenage parent_

**_HA:_ ** _how my life has strayed from the path of success_

**_AK:_ ** _but babe were together_

**_HA:_ ** _…reread what i just sent_

**_AK:_ ** _wow ok rude_

**_AK:_ ** _also r u comin over for coffee and smooches :3_

**_HA:_ ** _why tf are u suddenly using emojis_

**_HA:_ ** _but yea gimme a sec ill be over in 20_

**_AK:_ ** _aw yiss_

**_AK:_ ** _i get boyf cuddles_

**_AK:_ ** _love u bb <3_

**_HA:_ ** _ <3_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have to have some angst. It's a P5 fic, where would it be without angst?


	30. Problems Arise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Relationship drama begins. This is honestly what I would say is the start of the actual plot of the story.

Hikaru yawned, feeling a small amount of exhaustion crawl across his body. It wasn’t too late at night, but it was late enough that he was getting tired. Sadly, this was when their flight to Hawaii was, so he had no choice. He scratched his head, eyes slightly closed. He stared blankly into the distance, brain not processing anything he’s seeing. The only thing stopping him from falling asleep was the loud music blasting in his ears.

“Hey.” Hikaru didn’t turn around at Akira’s greeting, softly whispering to the music in his ears. He didn’t turn either when Akira rested a hand on his shoulder. “Can you even hear me?”

“I don’t need to hear you to know you’re there, Akira,” Hikaru said, causing Akira to jump in surprise.

“Fuck, I forgot I’m dating a telepath.” Hikaru flicked Akira’s temple, making the taller teen laugh.

“Telepathy has nothing to do with spatial awareness,” Hikaru muttered, slipping one side of his earphones out. “Like, did you know Makoto’s right behind you?”

Akira turned in surprise, and sure enough, there she was, an amused smirk on her face. “What the fuck, why don’t you say anything?”

“Akira, you’re a Phantom Thief, shouldn’t you be aware of things around you?” Makoto inquired, crossing her arms across her chest. “Hikaru’s right, your awareness in some situations is astounding, yet you have these moments where you just seem to be totally unaware of your surroundings. Did you not notice me tailing you before the Kaneshiro incident at all?”

“Oh, I noticed you, your book was upside down. I just didn’t say anything because you seemed to somehow believe you were smooth.” Makoto sputtered in embarrassment, looking away and grumbling slightly. Akira smirked, having turned the tables on the student council president.

“Yo, what did we miss?” Ryuji asked, him and Ann approaching, both looking tired. They looked worse than Hikaru, and the heir thought he had it bad.

“Is that all you’re bringing, Ryuji?” Makoto asked, eyeing the one small duffel bag Ryuji had brought along.

The blond raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“Isn’t that a bit…little? We’re going to be there for four days, you know.”

“That’s what I said!” Ann echoed, looking at Ryuji’s bag. “How many sets of clothing did you even pack?!”

“Uhh…isn’t one enough?” Hikaru cringed internally, and Ann seemed to go through a whole variety of emotions before settling on disappointment. Ryuji seemed slightly ashamed now, so the heir decided to bail him out.

“If he needs, we can buy some clothes there, worst case. It should be fine. I think there’s a laundry room in the hotel.” Ann let out a sigh of relief, thanking whatever god out there that Hikaru existed.

“Hikaru, you’re a saint.” Hikaru snorted.

_“Attention, Flight NH3510 to Honolulu, Hawaii is now ready for boarding. May all passengers please proceed to Gate 25 for boarding.”_

“You guys have checked in, right?” Everyone nodded. Makoto nodded to herself, waving for them to come along. “Then we’ll meet with everyone else and head to the gate. Please don’t run off. Looking at you, Ryuji and Akira. Hikaru, keep your boyfriend on a leash.”

Akira pouted, while Ryuji shrugged. Hikaru hummed, slipping his earphones back on.

“I’ll try my best, but don’t expect much. Akira would like it too much, anyway.”

Akira choked, while everyone burst into laughter. Even Makoto hid a giggle at that.

~~~

“Mishima, you’re a great friend. But I swear to god, if you don’t shut up I will kick you out of this bus.”

They had landed without any issue, but currently, Akira was stuck sitting next to Mishima, seeing as Hikaru was sitting with Ryuji. Ryuji had quickly pulled Hikaru to sit with him, saying something about ‘bro talk’, leaving Akira with no choice but to sit with Mishima, since no one else would even dare to come close to him, and Ann was sitting with Makoto.

“Oh, am I rambling again? My parents recently told me I should just relax for a moment. But I can’t help it, you know? It’s something important in my life that I feel passionate about!” Akira suppressed a heavy sigh, biting his lip. How does he kindly tell Mishima to fucking chill?

 _“You seem to be having fun,”_ echoed in Akira’s mind. He glanced across the aisle to Hikaru and Ryuji, both of whom were barely restraining laughter. He glared at them, creating another round of restrained chuckles. Mishima stayed blissfully unaware, still talking Akira’s ear off.

_Send help._

_“No.”_

_Fuck you._

_“That’s what you want to do, yes.”_

Akira grumbled, sulking in his corner. Hikaru let out a laugh, turning back to Ryuji. He hasn’t had the chance to talk to Ryuji properly in a while, so it was nice to get caught up and everything.

“Oh, yeah, did I tell you how the track team situation turned out?” Hikaru shook his head.

“Well, I think they ditched Yamauchi and decided to start from the ground up. It’ll be tough, but I know that Nakaoka and Takeishi and the guys got it handled. They offered me to join back, but I said no since we’re doing all this Phantom Thief stuff already.” Ryuji summarized.

“But didn’t you want to do running again? You can still do it, we’re not going to stop you,” Hikaru said, tilting his head.

“Nah, I don’t quite fit in there anymore. Plus, I like us more, you know? Not to mention that I needa become stronger to catch up with everyone. Akira has his multiple Persona thing, your Persona is strong as heck, Ann’s firepower is insane, Yusuke’s ice is so strong in many ways, Mona has awesome control over his abilities, Makoto’s just straight-up badass, and even Futaba who just joined has so much goin’ for her. I kinda feel left behind, you know?”

“Ryuji…” The blond had a slightly somber expression on his face, one that Hikaru was familiar with. He used to do it to himself all the time.

“Stop doubting yourself. You achieved plenty too, you know. You were the first to have a Second Awakening, not to mention your insane Physical attacks. You also have more stamina than almost all of us, and a high tolerance to pain. Trust me, some of the attacks you take, I would’ve died from. You’re as important as all of us.”

Ryuji gave Hikaru a grin. Hikaru smiled back, patting him gently on the head.

“Sorry ‘bout that, I got a bit depressing there, didn’t I?” Hikaru shook his head.

“It’s fine, we all get like that from time to time.” Ryuji thought something to himself and snorted.

“What’s so funny?” Hikaru, of course, decided to read Ryuji’s mind.

_“He’s actually like a dad. Makoto team mom, Hikaru team dad? Gotta tell Akira that.”_

“Don’t tell Akira that, he proposed it.” Ryuji guffawed. Hikaru sighed, leaning back in his seat, but couldn’t stop the fond smile on his face.

The bus came to a stop, and Kawakami at the front of the bus stood up.

“Alright, listen up. Remember to behave yourself and don’t do anything stupid. We’re in a different country, so try not to get in trouble. I don’t know if you’ll even be allowed to go back to Japan. Then again, that’s way above my pay grade…” Kawakami muttered to herself for a moment. She then realized that everyone was watching her. “So yeah, don’t be idiots. Come on, let’s get checked in.”

The students exited the bus in single file, gathering in the lobby of the hotel. The large crowd caught the attention of the few tourists in the room but Kawakami ignored all of that, heading to the counter with the third-year chaperones to check everyone in. The receptionist greeted them eagerly, leaving everyone some time to talk among themselves.

Akira quickly took the chance to leave the conversation with Mishima, giving Hikaru a back hug, his arms over the heir’s shoulders. Hikaru stumbled but quickly balanced himself, glaring at Akira. The bespectacled teen gave him a dopey grin.

“Can I room with you, my love?” Akira said in a dramatic tone.

Ann and Ryuji gagged. Hikaru groaned, looking around to make sure no one caught that. It seemed that everyone was too caught in their own conversations to hear what Akira just said, which was a relief.

“I don’t think I exactly have a choice. Who else would I room with, Mishima?” Hikaru asked sarcastically. Akira chuckled softly, burying his face into Hikaru’s hair. It smelt fruity, like apples and peaches. It was Akira’s favorite scent, even more than the smell of a nice coffee.

“God, you two are in the honeymoon phase, aren’t you?” Ann said to herself.

“Kurusu, Aozora, Takamaki, do you have roommates yet?” Kawakami approached them, some key cards in her hands.

“I’m rooming with Hikaru,” Akira announced, the same time that Ann shook her head. Kawakami nodded, handing the couple a set of keycards.

“Then this will be for your room. The room number’s written on the card holder. You can go up now, just meet later tonight for dinner at the buffet. The rest of the afternoon is time for you to get settled in and everything. Takamaki, you can come with me and we’ll see about finding a roommate for you.”

Kawakami left with Ann in tow, leaving the boys alone. Akira gave Ryuji a cheeky grin and waved a goodbye, leading Hikaru towards the elevators.

“Hey, what the hell? Don’t leave me alone here!” Akira turned around and stuck his tongue out, hands on Hikaru’s shoulders.

The school had rented off two whole floors, one for the guys and one for the girls. Hikaru and Akira arrived in their room, which wasn’t too far from the elevator, and entered. It wasn’t too big, but not small either. There were two single beds, a medium-sized bathroom, and a nice view of the beach. Immediately after entering, Hikaru flopped onto one of the beds, burying his face into a soft pillow.

“Where’s our bags?” Akira asked. Just in time, the doorbell rang. Akira went to answer, coming face-to-face with a bellhop.

“Which of these are your bags?” He asked in English. Akira wasn’t bad, of course, but he wasn’t exactly fluent. He could guess what the bellhop was asking and pointed out his and Hikaru’s luggage. The man smiled, helping them move it into the room.

“Is this a school trip? Where are you students from?” Akira got slightly nervous as the bellhop made small talk. He was about to give a semi-coherent reply when a clear voice came from behind him.

“Oh, we’re students from a private school in Japan, Shujin Academy. We’re here for our school’s summer trip.” Akira turned, surprised at Hikaru’s fluent English. Hikaru gave him a smirk, patting him on the shoulder. He thanked the bellhop for the help, closing the door once he left.

“I didn’t know you spoke fluent English…” Akira muttered.

Hikaru gave Akira a deadpan. “Did you forget that my mother was Canadian? I grew up with my parents teaching me English.”

Akira did forget that. It didn’t come up often, since Hikaru didn’t bring it up, and Akira didn’t want to touch on any sensitive topics. Hikaru, sensing Akira’s apprehension, chuckled, reaching up to give him a peck on the lips, then slumped back down on the bed.

“What do you want to do for the next few hours? We have about two and a half hours to waste before it’s time to meet,” Hikaru asked, plugging in his phone charger to the sockets near his bed.

“We could just look around the area? I don’t think there’s anything else to do…”

“Well, you have fun with that. I’m taking a nap.” Hikaru slid into the blanket, Akira whining. He slid into the bed next to Hikaru, the heir mumbling to himself as they squeezed on the bed meant for one person.

“We could just push our beds together you know, right?” Akira hummed against Hikaru’s neck.

“…Lazy. Wanna stay with you.”

Hikaru let out a snort of disbelief but didn’t say anything else. They laid there, cuddled together on the small bed until they fell asleep.

Hikaru stirred awake as his phone buzzed loudly on the nightstand next to his bed. He grumbled softly, reaching over to take a look at whoever the hell decided to interrupt his sleep by calling him.

_Incoming Call: Ryuji_

He cursed, swiping ‘answer’ and growling into the phone. “This better be good, Sakamoto. I’m feeling very warm and cozy right now.”

_“Yo, it’s almost six! Where the hell are you and Akira?! We’re supposed to gather for dinner!”_

“I was asleep with Akira. Do you think Kawakami will mind if we come down a bit later?”

_“No fucking idea, dude, but don’t risk it. We’re still supposed to be low profile, aren’t we?”_

Hikaru was silent, mind processing what Ryuji just said. He groaned. “Fuck, I hate it when you’re right. Give us ten, we’ll be down.”

He ended the call and took a whole minute to just sit up, staring at the wall. He then smacked Akira on the shoulder, making the half-asleep teen in the blankets groan. Hikaru smacked him again, grabbing the water bottle by his bed to take a sip.

“Wake the fuck up, loser. We’re going to be late for dinner.”

Akira groaned and attempted to pull Hikaru back into the bed. The heir flung his hand off and got up, pulling the blanket off the bed. Akira hissed, curling up into a ball.

“If you don’t wake up, I’m leaving you for dinner. You have until I freshen up to get up.”

Akira mumbled something but didn’t move. Hikaru rolled his eyes and headed into the washroom to wash his face and attempt to style his hair. He had intense bedhead and tried to smooth it out with water. When most of it was down, he shrugged, looking much more awake than he did a moment ago.

“Akira, you up?” Hikaru yelled into the room. There was a responding groan, not muffled by a pillow. Akira stumbled into the bathroom, clothes ruffled and glasses askew on his face. He suppressed a yawn, washing his face to wake himself up. Hikaru nodded to himself, slipping on his shoes and grabbing the key card.

“I’ll wait for you downstairs, I grabbed the key card already.” Akira gave an affirmative hum. Hikaru shut the door and headed to the elevator, making his way down. By the time he got down, most of the students have already gathered. He spotted Ryuji talking with Ann and Makoto by the restaurant entrance.

“Hey, Hikaru!” Ann called out to him, waving. Hikaru approached them, giving them a tired smile.

“I called you earlier asking if you wanted to go tour the area, but you didn’t answer. Were you asleep?” Hikaru nodded.

“Well, I suppose it was free time, and there is the issue of jet lag…” Makoto mentioned. She looked at Hikaru, her tone becoming stern but gentle. “Just remember to be awake in time tomorrow for our activities.”

“Yes, mom,” Hikaru muttered under his breath. Ryuji, who was right beside him, nudged him, hiding his smile.

“Where’s Akira? Didn’t he come down with you?”

Hikaru shook his head. “He took some time to wake up. He should be down soon, though, so no need to worry too much.”

Just as they said that, Akira appeared with a ding from the elevator. His tired frown caused the crowd around him to part, all whispering to each other about the delinquent transfer student. Akira was too tired to care about all of this, focusing instead on his group of friends and his boyfriend.

“You seem awfully energetic,” Ann said sarcastically.

“I wanna die,” Akira groaned out. He leaned on Hikaru, the heir letting out a grunt as he tried to support Akira’s weight.

“Get off me.” Hikaru tried to push his boyfriend off of him, but Akira refused to budge. The Phantom Thieves’ leader was definitely more well-built, while Hikaru didn’t do much exercise, most of his muscle mass newly gained from his Phantom Thieves activities.

“It’s almost time, so I should meet up with the teachers to take attendance. We’ll be entering soon, so grab me a spot if you can.” With that, Makoto left.

“So…did you two, you know…?” Ann wiggled her eyebrows, but Hikaru looked at her with a deadpan.

“No, I don’t know. What do you think we, two very law-abiding high school students on a school trip, did in our private hotel room? Tell me in detail.” Hikaru’s tone was dry and sarcastic, his face even more so. Ann had the decency to look slightly ashamed but didn’t falter.

“Hey, you’re both consenting, hormonal teenagers, you never know what’s going to happen!” She tried to defend herself.

“Trust me, if we did, the whole school would’ve heard it,” Akira said with a wink. Ryuji gagged, one eye twitching. Hikaru smacked Akira on the shoulder, the latter chuckling. The heir groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as he wondered what exactly possessed him to fall in love with the mess of a man in front of him.

Kawakami’s voice interrupted their conversation.

“Alright, everyone! Go inside, the sectioned part of the restaurant belongs to us. And please, don’t bother the other customers inside.” With the prospect of food, the students eagerly entered, excited to try the different foods that they don’t usually get in their country.

The Phantom Thieves easily got a table for the five of them, everyone else too intimidated to even approach the table filled with the outliers of the school. The buffet itself wasn’t too much different from what they had in the Wilton Buffet, considering that the menu today seemed to be a Japanese one, with some international elements. It was kind of disappointing for Hikaru.

Everyone else seemed to enjoy it, however, so Hikaru stayed silent. Well, it wasn’t like the food was bad. Hikaru shrugged to himself, taking a bite of the chicken rice he got.

Just like that, dinner passed uneventfully. The Thieves made small talk, some jokes, but everything was quiet. After that, Kawakami announced that there will be free time, but there will be a curfew to make sure that all of them get the proper amount of sleep for tomorrow’s activities.

Hikaru and Akira made their way back up into their room. Almost immediately after the door closed, Akira pinned Hikaru onto the door. Hikaru raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. The bespectacled teen leaned in, mouthing at the skin of Hikaru’s neck, eliciting a silent moan from the heir.

“W-what brought this on?” Hikaru asked, tone shaky from Akira’s actions. Akira ignored him, running a hand up Hikaru’s side under his hoodie.

“Akira-” Hikaru moaned softly, feeling Akira’s hands explore the unmapped skin of his abdomen, pushing his hoodie further up. The black-haired teen pressed his hips against Hikaru’s, letting out a groan as the friction between them sent pleasure into their brains.

However, as much as Hikaru was enjoying it, something in his gut told him that this wasn’t right. It didn’t feel right, and Hikaru felt a sense of dread. As if it was some unknown higher being warning him, or perhaps threatening him. Goosebumps broke across his entire skin, sending shivers down his spine.

Hikaru laid a hand on top of Akira’s, halting his actions. “We shouldn’t,” the heir breathed out, face flushed.

Akira stared at Hikaru, eyes confused and clouded, but stopped at his request. They stayed there for a moment, just staring at each other, Hikaru panting slightly. Akira moved first, leaning in to catch Hikaru’s lips in his own. The heir hummed, eyes slowly closing shut as he opened his mouth, welcoming Akira’s tongue.

The two engaged in the lip lock for what felt like an hour, holding onto each other as if it were their last moments on Earth. They eventually parted, with both of them once again awkwardly staring at each other.

“We should get ready for bed, shouldn’t we?” Hikaru asked, Akira nodding. A cheeky smirk grew on his face then.

“Should I shower with you?” Hikaru hummed, leaning into Akira’s grasp.

“I wouldn’t be opposed, but who knows if you can control yourself…” Akira pouted at that.

Hikaru chuckled, grabbing a set of sleepwear and slipping into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

~~~

While Hikaru showered, Akira laid on his bed, thinking to himself.

What had possessed him there? He longed for Hikaru, but never that badly, as much as everyone else joked about it. In the moment, if Hikaru didn’t stop him, Akira didn’t think he could stop himself. He almost committed a grave mistake in his life by forcing Hikaru into something he wasn’t yet comfortable with.

Was it just a rush of hormones? Was it the effect of having so many Personas locked in your head, each throwing arguments and suggestions in his head? Akira groaned softly to himself. What was wrong with him?

Little does he know, Hikaru was feeling the same in the shower.

Hikaru felt the guilt in his gut pool up again as he let the warm water run down his body. Why was he so scared? It was just Akira, his boyfriend, for god’s sake. Did he really not trust Akira to look out for him? He frowned, running a hand through his wet hair.

Why did he have to be so scared of everything? He thought he was past all of it. Shouldn’t his Awakening have solved the issue, his Second Awakening even more so? What was this overwhelming sense of dread he felt deep in his soul, shaking the foundations of his heart?

Hikaru’s hands slid down to his face, his shoulders shaking as he suppressed a silent sob. He promised to himself that he had to change, that he can’t keep dragging the others down like this.

The warm water rained onto his lean body, hiding the tears that were shed.

~~~

_“Awaken, Young Master, and listen.”_

Hikaru snapped awake with a gasp. He looked around and quickly noted that what he saw was not the hotel room. No, he awakened in a velvet prison cell, dimly lit by the spotlight in the middle of the room. He’s been here before, seen this place before.

It was Akira’s Velvet Room.

Hikaru looked down on himself, noting his ethereal body. He then turned over to the cell opposite of his, hearing chains rattle. Akira had gotten up, facing the center of the room with a grim expression. An ominous chuckle rang through the room, and Hikaru felt a chill going down his spine.

Right in front of his eyes, a desk and a long-nosed man appeared, as if they were always there. The chuckle seemed to have come from the man, his grin stretching impossibly wide.

“Welcome, Trickster. I have called you here today to discuss matters. But first, we should celebrate the fall of the tomb of wrath, no? Well done.” The man gave a slow golf clap. Two girls, wearing matching velvet warden outfits gave silent glares of envy to Akira. One of them raised a cane, slamming it onto the bars caging Akira in.

“Our master offers you words of praise! Show your appreciation, Inmate!” Akira ignored her, speaking with the man directly.

“Igor, what did you need of me today?” Akira’s voice was different from what Hikaru was used to. It was cold, wary, scared. Hikaru wanted to walk over to hug Akira.

“I have called you due to an issue that has come to my attention. It is secondary to your rehabilitation, however. The primary goal of the Velvet Room is to guide you to your rehabilitation.”

Hikaru realized what he was seeing. This seemed to be in Akira’s mind, his meeting in the Velvet Room. This must be what Elizabeth and Theodore ran from, the fake master who had taken control of the room. It seems that Akira was somewhat aware of this as well, being slightly wary around the other.

“From my surveillance, I have noticed that an anomaly to your Confidants has appeared.” Akira bit his lip but showed no signs otherwise of knowing anything about what Igor was saying. Igor continued, not noticing the small detail.

“Factoring in the different Confidants that you have formed, I have come to the decision that this anomaly is a possible deterrent sent your way, in order to align you with the path of ruin. It would be wise for you to avoid this person.” Akira’s grip tightened on the bars of his cell. Hikaru, on the other side of the room, stayed silent, listening to the conversation.

The two girls by Akira’s cell spoke.

“You hear that, Inmate?! Our master’s showing concern for you, so you better listen, you good-for-nothing! Cut ties with that anomaly or you’re screwed!” The girl with the cane yelled, slamming the cane hard on Akira’s cell door to drive her point.

“An anomaly sent by malicious intent…it is important that you stay aware of your surroundings. It is best to do as our master says, to avoid any unprecedented events in the future,” the other girl holding a clipboard said gently, a large contrast to her twin.

“…Malicious intent?” Akira asked.

“It is my hypothesis that this individual holds great strength that would disrupt the game played in another’s favor, power that is possibly even rivaled with your abilities in terms of effectiveness.” Igor hummed, his deep voice shaking Hikaru’s soul.

“What is this sense of dread I feel?” Igor said out loud to himself. He turned around, and Hikaru flinched as his gaze spread across the room. However, his eyes skipped over Hikaru, continuing until he had circled the room.

“Master? Is everything alright?” The girl with the cane asked.

“Worry not, Caroline. Perhaps a figment of my imagination.”

Hikaru let out a sigh of relief, slumping against the velvet walls. He turned back to his boyfriend, who had stayed silent the entire time, not focused on what was happening.

“…This anomaly, how close is it to me?” Akira asked, face darkening.

“From what I see, he seems to be the closest to you out of all of your companions. This could serve to be dangerous,” Igor replied, crossing his fingers. Akira let out a shaky sigh, now knowing who Igor was talking about.

“…Is that all?” Igor nodded, and an alarm sounded throughout the room.

“Return to your fleeting rest, Inmate…” Akira, as if possessed, slowly returned to the bed, eyes beginning to close. The moment they closed, his body vanished, returned to reality. And with that, the image around him shimmered, and disappeared into darkness.

Hikaru’s eyes slowly opened in the darkness of the hotel room. He could hear Akira’s rushed breathing a small distance from him, a sign that he was awake. Hikaru pretended to be asleep when he felt his bed shift under Akira’s weight. The other teen had crawled into his bed, hands reaching around to cuddle with him.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you, no matter what. Anomaly or no, you’re the only one I care about.” Akira gave Hikaru’s forehead a soft kiss, and leaned further in, pulling him into his grasp. It didn’t take long for Akira’s breath to even out. Once that happened, Hikaru slowly opened his eyes, a fond smile on his face.

“You’re the one I’ll protect this time, Akira. I won’t let you die by the hands of fate…” Hikaru reached a hand to Akira’s cheek, appreciating how peaceful he looked when he slept.

They fell asleep like that, in each other’s arms, until the morning came.

~~~

The few days in Hawaii seemed to meld together after Hikaru’s second visit to Akira’s Velvet Room. They had gone to a plantation, explored Hawaii’s volcanoes, and even went on a boat tour around the islands that made up Hawaii. All in all, it wasn’t exactly a bad trip. Heck, even Yusuke showed up.

It was during one of those days that a terrifying sense of foreboding crawled up Hikaru’s neck. Immediately, Hikaru tried to isolate himself from the group by saying he was heading to the washroom. They were at a tour, and Kawakami trusted him enough to know that he wouldn’t wander off.

Once entering the bathroom, his eyes glowed a dark blue, and screens formed around him, showing multiple people. A few of them followed the tour group, while others were of people in Japan. One such screen displayed a horrifying sight. Hikaru gulped, cursing internally. He stretched his mental reach, hoping that it could make it all the way to Japan.

 _“Futaba, can you hear me?!”_ It took him a while to get a reply.

_Hikaru?! Aren’t you across the fucking world right now? Also, do you know it’s like 6 in the evening? It’s almost time for me to crash for the night._

_“This is an emergency! I’m transmitting data, help me find out where it’s from!”_ Hikaru compressed the data and launched it in the general direction of Japan. It took a few moments for him to get Futaba’s reply.

_This is…_

_“I had set up surveillance on people relevant to us. I’m sorry you have to see this, but it’s important. The other party is making their move. Do you have any leads?”_

_This is from the police station in front of Aoyama, a short car ride from the school. I’ll try to get into Kobayakawa’s phone to get information and bank account info to see recent transactions, anything weird that appear I’ll tell you._

_“Thanks. If it’s a mental breakdown, they might try to frame this on us. We need to keep our eyes open.”_

_This might just be me, but aren’t you being a bit too paranoid? They could just be doing this just for the kicks, couldn’t they?_

_“No, especially considering this is shortly after Medjed was shut down. They might be beginning to panic or accelerate their plan. I think they might be trying to tie all chains of mental shutdown incidents to us since there is no clear proof of our change of heart. The only lead that we have is that one conversation we overheard from Kobayakawa, but that doesn’t even give us much.”_

_I’ll look into it. I should have something in a while. Also, remember to get me souvenirs._

_“Get Morgana to train your powers, and when I get back I’ll do some poking around. Also, you want a pineapple?”_

_…Better be the best damn Hawaiian pineapple I’ve had._

Hikaru cut the connection, dispersing the screens around him. His face turned grim at witnessing Kobayakawa’s death via mental shutdown. He left the bathroom and kindly asked for directions, joining back with the tour group.

Akira eyed him. Hikaru hummed, and discreetly displayed a screen showing footage of Kobayakawa’s death on the screen. Akira’s eyes widened, looking back at Hikaru with desperation.

_“Futaba’s already on it. I’ll need to do some digging once we get back.”_

Akira nodded, feeling a creeping sensation in his gut. Things were going to be bad. But as of right now, they had to remain low profile, to make sure that no one suspected that they were involved at all with Kobayakawa.

_I’ll get everyone together later, we’ll think of what to do._

_“Ask them to come to our room. Yusuke’s staying at the same hotel, so it should be fine.”_

_Gotcha._

After the tour, Akira sent out a message to the Phantom Thief group chat.

**_Phantom of the Opera_ **

**_AK:_ ** _everyone gather in me and Hikaru’s room, important things happened_

**_AK:_ ** _its room 534 if u dk_

**_FS:_ ** _but im_ _in tokyo_

**_AK:_ ** _u already know what its about_

**_AK:_ ** _Hikaru can set u up_

**_RS:_ ** _whats up?_

**_AT:_ ** _did something happen?_

**_AK:_ ** _ull know when you get here_

Everyone gathered, entering the small hotel room and grabbing a seat where they could. Futaba had connected to Hikaru via her abilities, which allowed the Thieves to see her through Hikaru’s displays. It was much more convenient than using their phones since none of them had brought a laptop or anything.

“First of all, all of you watch this. This happened about an hour ago.” Hikaru brought up the footage of Kobayakawa’s death. The reactions across were varied. Makoto and Ann let out gasps of horror, Ryuji averted his eyes, and Yusuke watched with morbid fascination.

“That was…the principal, wasn’t it?” Ann muttered. Hikaru nodded, projecting Futaba onto the television.

“Show us what you can find.”

“First off, I managed to get access to Kobayakawa’s phone and contacts. There’s a number saved as ‘Director’, which was the last call made before his death. The number is encrypted, so that’ll take me a while longer to decipher that. I also got his card records, which showed he took a taxi to the police station.”

“That rules out suicide since he could’ve just jumped in front of a car anywhere. That leaves the last option: mental shutdown.” Hikaru’s face soured.

“This director is probably the same person we overheard that time, Makoto. Considering the situation and timing, I think it’s good to call the theory basically confirmed.” Makoto thought to herself for a moment, nodding after a short while. The others remained confused, which Akira solved quickly.

“We had guessed that the timing of this whole Phantom Thief fad felt too good to be true. That there was some other power behind what was happening. There was also the issue of Akechi, who seemed so out of place, so we tied those together. The upper class here uses Akechi as a tool to enact their will via mental shutdown, and those who obey stay under their influence.”

Makoto continued. “As the Phantom Thieves enacting our justice onto the world, we are changing the hearts of corrupt adults, forcing them to turn themselves in. This could be seen as getting in the way of their work, considering their wide network, and they could turn their target onto us. That is why Principal Kobayakawa was so eager to find traces of the Phantom Thieves. He had asked me right after the Madarame case, which could be what caused them to notice us in the first case.”

“After the assembly before the summer break, we had overheard a call Kobayakawa had with this director. He seemed nervous and desperate to find the Phantom Thieves, and the director had mentioned that this ‘was his last chance, or he knows what’ll happen’, something along those lines. Now that Medjed had failed, Kobayakawa has also failed, leading to his disposal,” Hikaru concluded.

“But the public opinion of the Phantom Thieves was also shaky during the Madarame case, no? If these people are indeed behind most of the Phantom Thieves’ targets, aren’t they strong enough to sway the public opinion easily, as Akechi did?” Yusuke asked, which was a great question, but Hikaru shook his head.

“You forget that most broadcasting companies in the country are owned by the Aozora, which can only be swayed by federal power at least. No one person shy of the CEO himself can change the message broadcasted. That’s why the Phantom Thieves’ actions have yet to suffer from strongly biased opinions in the media or strong criticisms, only tabloid posts. We report the facts of the situation, that’s it. After the incident of Akechi on air, we had reduced the number of visitors on talks about the Phantom Thieves, to limit the amount of mail the studio receives.”

Akira rested a finger on his chin. “That’s a double-edged sword at best. The good side is that we can rely on no lies or misinformation making their way into the news. But that means that the public opinion is based on what they report. If the enemy here is strong enough to change the source material, then they will report it as it is, even if it puts the Phantom Thieves as the public enemy. We’ve seen this with Akechi’s comments, didn’t we?”

Hikaru nodded. “That’s right. What we need to know now is how far this goes up, and what their next move is. We’re definitely ahead, so we need to strike while we have the lead.”

“This sounds so crazy, dude…” Ryuji sat on a bed, a worried look on his face. “I don’t know anythin’ about what we should do at all…”

“Same here,” Ann said softly. “This all sounds so surreal.”

“This is a lot to take in, so I don’t blame you, but keep your head in this. If we just let this in, we’re going to be screwed. We can’t delay our actions anymore.”

“But what can we do? As of now, there’s nothing we can do except wait for Futaba’s info, and what? Change that guy’s heart? That’s possible…but we still have to watch for public attention, don’t we? If we mess even a small step up, people could easily turn on us and brand us the victims.” Ann spoke up.

“This whole Phantom Thieves fame after the Medjed case is really rubbing me the wrong way. I can tell that Akira, Makoto, and even part of Yusuke feels the same.” The three mentioned nodded, eyes averted from Ann and Ryuji, who were the ones who were most excited for the public’s opinion on their deeds. The room fell into an awkward silence, each of the Thieves thinking to themselves.

“Hey, Akira?” Said teen turned his head towards Hikaru.

“Did Mishima tell you what he planned to add to the Phan-Site?” Akira shakily nodded.

“He said he wanted to add a poll, to see whose heart the public wanted to change the most. As of right now, the one on the top of the rankings is a man named Kunikazu Okumura.”

“That’s the CEO of Okumura Foods, the owner of Big Bang Burger, isn’t it?” Makoto asked, getting a nod from Hikaru.

“He was on the list I passed you all a while ago. Cutting costs, poor management, underpaying workers, and all of that. It’s also said that he was the sole beneficiary regarding the case of mental shutdowns in April, which puts him under a possible accomplice to the mental shutdowns themselves. He was going to make an announcement soon about the future of Okumura Foods.”

“Sorry, but can we just…stop talking about all of this? I need a while to think properly about all of this…” Ann asked, gaining a few worried glances.

“Yeah, we can decide this all later once we get home. We need to wait anyway,” Akira reassured her, giving her a smile. With that, everyone left the room except Hikaru and Akira. The heir swiped his hand at the TV, ending the connection with Futaba. He leaned back onto the bed, a small frown on his face.

“What’s up?” Akira asked, moving to sit beside his boyfriend.

“Hey, Akira…am I being too paranoid with this situation? I’ve had multiple people tell me that, but…” Hikaru hesitated, looking away from Akira’s gaze.

“…I think you’re just worrying for all of us. You’re doing your best, so don’t worry about it. In fact, I don’t blame you, considering your lifestyle.”

Hikaru sighed, closing his eyes. “Hey, Kira, no matter what, you’ll be on my side, right? We’ll make it through all of this, right?”

Akira closed his eyes as well. “Everything will be fine.”

Hikaru stayed silent and turned away from Akira, and they laid there together.

However, Hikaru’s eyes were wide open in fear and panic.

_“He didn’t say yes.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I did a decent amount of research on the age of consent in Japan just for that single line. In Japan itself, it's 13, but minor laws raise that to 16-18, depending on location. Tokyo was 18, I believe, but can be lowered to 16 with parental consent. So, by all technicalities, Hikaru and Akira are, with consent from parents, not underage.
> 
> I'm not writing smut, though. I have never written smut and I don't think I'll be trying anytime soon. But who knows, I'm not above peer pressure. If there's a demand, perhaps.


	31. An Heiress' Plea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We start Okumura's arc with some complications.

Ever since their discussion in the hotel, the Thieves had stayed reasonably far from each other. Yusuke was busy going around with his school, Makoto was preoccupied with chaperone duties, Ann was taken away by some classmates that felt more reassured with an English speaker in their groups, and Ryuji took the time to chat with his old track mates.

Hikaru had also been trying to form some distance. Something was wrong with Akira lately, and he knew it. First that sudden rush of lust, then the empty promises. Something was really wrong, and he believed it to be possibly linked with the false god who had taken Igor’s position.

Theodore seemed to agree with him on this.

The attendant had paid him a visit when Akira was out with Mishima, leading him back into the Velvet Room he first entered.

“Ah, Hikaru, it has been a long time. How have you been?” Elizabeth had asked when he entered, gesturing to the sofa opposite her.

“Umm…good? I’m not exactly too sure as to how I should describe this,” Hikaru said in response. He took a seat and, as if he was always there, Apollo appeared beside him, without the chariot and horses, sitting down beside his master.

“Oh, I see Merlin has evolved. Well done!” Elizabeth grinned, pouring a cup of tea for everyone. Theodore took a seat as well, beside his sister.

 _“I believe that is the least of our concerns currently, attendant,”_ Apollo’s whimsical voice replied.

“Fair enough. As you have guessed and hypothesized, it seems that the god who has usurped our master has noticed your presence.” She took a sip of her tea, letting out a content sigh before continuing. “I suppose any longer would be nothing less than miraculous on our part.”

“The seal that we have placed on you prevents the god’s ability to track you in the Metaverse, but your presence in the human world will remain. Because of this seal, the magic harnessed via the bonds of the Confidant link does not apply to you, but you remain close to the Trickster. That will definitely catch the attention of the enemy, but I am indeed surprised that it has gone for so long without any sign,” Theodore added on.

“Is this why Akira has been acting weirdly recently?” Hikaru asked.

“You are an unknown presence, an anomaly in his game of fate. You play a different role than the ones given, and he will not stand for that. Therefore, he will try his best, as the game creator, to banish any outliers in the system, whether that is via the players, or perhaps even himself. It might be dangerous for us to ask you to continue.” Elizabeth crossed her legs, hands resting on her lap. Her usual sunny disposition dimmed. “In fact, continuing on at this rate would be suicide.”

“We have brought you here to discuss this issue. Now that Yaldabaoth is aware of your existence, it is dangerous to continue this any further. So, we would like to ask, for your sake, to stop continuing our deal. We will uphold our end, so you won’t have to worry about the consequences.” The two attendants stood together and simultaneously bowed.

“We thank you for your service to the Velvet Room.”

Hikaru sat there, stunned. To be honest, he had forgotten about his task of monitor and report, mostly just having too much fun spending time with Akira and the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Next to him, Apollo had begun humming a tune, eyes still closed as he enjoyed the music he created.

Hikaru took a few moments to finally say something.

“Theodore, Elizabeth…thank you for worrying about my wellbeing, but I must decline.” The two attendants looked up, the obvious confusion in their expressions. Apollo let out a drawn-out hum, eyes peeking slightly open, revealing the sun god’s bright, golden eyes.

“I have made a promise to Akira, you see. I had promised that I will be with him and protect him from the cruel fate placed on him. I will keep my promise. In fact, it should be me who should be asking for your help,” Hikaru said, thinking back to the night after his visit to Akira’s Velvet Room. He got up and bowed as well. “Please, won’t you help me free the one I love from this cruel fate?”

The two attendants stared in confusion and awe, not comprehending Hikaru’s reason for continuing on. By all means, there was no reason he had to continue. But, Elizabeth thought to herself, this could be what the humans called love, no? An emotion that surpasses all reason.

She giggled to herself. Theodore looked at her in confusion, but she waved it off.

“If you insist, then who are we to decline your generous offer? However, this time, we will not be able to save you should anything happen. We can try our best, but we are not at our strongest without our master’s aid, so our magic in the Sea of Souls is greatly limited.” Elizabeth laid out the terms of their new contract.

“That’s fine. I trust Apollo fully,” Hikaru glanced at his Persona, who gave him a cheeky grin, “and I believe that I will be fine. I just ask that you make sure that Akira stays safe, and that in the event that I don’t make it out of this alive, that the benefits of my contract get passed on to him. Is that fine?”

“You continue to surprise me.” Elizabeth couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. Things were turning out better than expected. “I must say, it is impressive that you have thought of a plan, even in death.”

Theodore opened his book, magic flowing from it. “But you have nothing to worry in regards to death. I’m sure a deal could be made. Allow me to strengthen your Persona, to do my best in ensuring your safety.”

Magic swirled around Hikaru, who looked around curiously. And, just as suddenly, it vanished. However, next to him, Apollo glowed even brighter, his voice turning more angelic and harmonious. The Persona sighed, floating off of the ground.

 _“It has been a while since I was at full power, hasn’t it, Theodore?”_ He asked the male attendant.

“Indeed. I trust the task of protecting Hikaru to you, Apollo.” The attendant bowed, to which Apollo nodded to.

“I suppose that is all we needed to discuss. Now, I’m sure that you must be going soon,” Elizabeth concluded.

A shimmering door appeared behind Hikaru. With a final bow, Apollo vanished back into Hikaru’s consciousness, and the heir turned towards the door, opening it. He felt a strange pulling in his body and opened his eyes to find himself on his bed, in his shared hotel room.

Akira came out of the bathroom, a towel around his neck, and made a noise at seeing the lifeless Hikaru on the bed. “When did you get back? I didn’t hear the door open.”

“Just got back,” was the short reply Hikaru gave.

“Where did you even go?”

“Had to pick something up for Futaba. She asked me to get a souvenir for her.”

“Shouldn’t we do that together on our last day?”

“She asked this specifically, and might be hard to find it in an airport.”

“Hikaru, what’s wrong?”

Hikaru cursed internally at Akira’s observation skills.

“It’s nothing, just something in my mind,” Hikaru said in an attempt to take Akira’s mind off of it, but it didn’t work.

“Hikaru, we’re supposed to tell things like that to each other. I don’t want another misunderstanding to come between us, okay?”

“Then trust me when I say this has nothing to do with you, alright? It’s just something I have to do later on that’s just annoying me.” Akira seemed satisfied with that response and stopped digging. Well, Hikaru wasn’t exactly lying. He had to go to the cocktail party a day after they returned, and that was bound to be an awful experience.

Hikaru closed his eyes and attempted to dig into Akira’s mind. He could only read surface thoughts without him realizing, so that’s what he did.

_I hope Hikaru’s fine…he’s not telling me something but I don’t wanna pry…_

The heir bit his lip, letting out a silent breath.

_“Don’t worry, Akira. I’ll protect you.”_

_~~~_

The rest of their days in Hawaii were uneventful. The Thieves still had an air of awkwardness around them, and the return trip was quiet. When they touched down in Tokyo in the morning, Hikaru unknowingly let out a breath of relief. So much had happened in Hawaii, he wasn’t sure that it was a good trip or not. Either way, he was glad to be back.

Also, he hadn’t noticed it at the time, but his body felt much lighter and stronger after his visit to the Velvet Room. It must’ve been the effects of Theodore’s magic on his body, as a side effect of unleashing Apollo’s full power.

“I suppose we’ll meet up once Futaba decrypts the encryption on Kobayakawa’s phone?” Makoto asked. Akira shrugged.

“Most likely, yeah. Now, I need to get back to Yongen, Sojiro’s expecting me.” The Thieves disbanded, leaving Akira and Hikaru once again.

“I’m coming with you, I need to hand something to Futaba.” Akira nodded. The train trip was silent, Hikaru slipping on his earphones to fill out the awkward silence between the couple. When they arrived, the sun was already high in the sky. Akira entered first, with a cheeky “Aloha”.

“Oh god, we’ve lost him,” Futaba commented, taking a sip of coffee.

Sojiro gave a light chuckle. “Well, at least you had fun. Go on, go unpack. Aozora, the usual?”

“I’m just here to pass Futaba her souvenir, so there’s no need. Thanks, though.” Hikaru reached into his backpack, pulling out a whole pineapple wrapped in plastic wrap. That gained a weird look from Sojiro. Futaba snorted, grabbing it and looking at him weirdly.

“Can’t believe you actually did it, Aozora,” she whispered.

“Don’t doubt my commitment to memes, Sakura,” Hikaru responded with the same volume.

“Well, that’s all from me. I need to get home and talk to my father, so I’ll-” Akira grabbed Hikaru’s wrist, stopping him from leaving. Hikaru turned around, a confused frown on his face.

“Can I talk to you for a moment alone?” Hikaru stiffened at Akira’s darker tone. Futaba and Sojiro didn’t notice Hikaru’s hesitance, and thinking that it was some lovers’ situation, left the café.

“…What’s wrong?” Hikaru asked, eyes averted from Akira. He didn’t want to look into those dark, cold eyes that had replaced the warm grey of his boyfriend’s.

“I should be asking you that. You’ve been avoiding me all this while since that day in Hawaii. Is something wrong?” Akira’s grip tightened slightly, and Hikaru felt a shiver go down his spine.

“No, it’s nothing, I told you.”

“And I told you that you can share with me, Hikaru. Don’t you trust me?” Hikaru’s expression tightened, face twisting in guilt. Akira took a step forward, and Hikaru took one backward. This continued until Hikaru was left trapped at the back of the café, eyes still not meeting Akira’s dangerous gaze.

“Akira-” Hikaru flinched as Akira slammed a palm right next to his ear, a growl coming from the latter’s throat.

“Don’t you love me, Hikaru? I thought we were past trivial issues such as this…” Akira’s tone turned soft, sending another chill across Hikaru’s skin. The heir held in the urge to whimper in fear, slowly looking up towards Akira.

“I thought what we had was special.”

Akira’s hand slammed against Hikaru’s throat, pressing hard. Hikaru let out a strangled gasp, a hand quickly shooting out to try to pull Akira’s hand off of him. Hikaru’s eyes turned sharp, immediately tapping into his survival instincts. With a loud yell, Hikaru’s body brightened and burned, causing Akira to let go with a hiss of pain.

When the possessed leader looked up again, Hikaru stood before him, but he wasn’t alone. Right behind him was his Persona, who had manifested in the real world. Apollo had his bow aimed, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

“An Archetype…? You’re a bigger threat than I had thought.” Akira’s voice had altered, no longer the kind tone he was used to, but a deep one, one that he was familiar with. The voice of the fake Igor. Hikaru’s eyes narrowed. There was no need for mercy.

“Apollo, Solar Flare!”

The arrow of light shined brightly, blinding Akira. When everything returned to normal, Hikaru was no longer there, leaving him in the café alone. The fake god growled to himself, “I will hunt you down, anomaly. You are not allowed in this game.”

~~~

Hikaru slumped against the wall of the side alley he had managed to escape to, panting heavily. He closed his eyes to perform a quick scan and let out a deep sigh when Akira’s reading was nowhere close. He had used the blind by Apollo to perform an escape, but who knows how much influence Yaldabaoth has over the real world.

“Fuck…” Hikaru cursed to himself, calming his breathing. Now that this has happened, what is he supposed to do now? He can’t be close to them. He had no idea when Yaldabaoth might strike, or even if he’s still possessing Akira. Hell, even being close to Akira could prove fatal if Yaldabaoth decides that Hikaru had to die that moment. Now that he was busted, if he tried entering the Metaverse with the others, it’ll only put a huge target on his back.

He needed intel and a second opinion on what to do. Maybe even a third.

_“Futaba, are you there?”_

_You and Akira done with your gross couple shit?_

Hikaru almost laughed out at the irony.

_“Can I come over to your place? There’s something I need to discuss with you privately.”_

_Uhh…sure? I’ll meet you at the house, Sojiro’s heading back to the café._

_“That’s good. Is Mona with you?”_

_No, he’s taking a nap in the attic. Want me to get him?_

_“No, I’ll ask him. I’ll be there in a moment.”_

Hikaru switched over to Morgana’s signal, diving into his thoughts.

_“Hey, Mona, you awake?”_

_…Hikaru? I was asleep, you know…_

_“Sorry about that. Is Akira with you? If he is, don’t show that I’m talking to you at all.”_

_…Okay? Are we, like, I don’t know, planning a surprise party or something? You guys just got back, you sure you’re up for partying already?_

_“I’ll explain everything. Meet me at Futaba’s place.”_

Hikaru waited a few minutes before he made his way over, seeing Futaba and Morgana at the door with a confused expression.

“What’s up?” Hikaru glanced around, and waved her in, only speaking when they were in Futaba’s room.

“Futaba, pull up your bug camera’s footage of right after you left the café.” Futaba’s face immediately distorted in disgust.

“Ew, don’t wanna see you two make out,” she said, but became quieter once she noticed Hikaru’s serious expression.

“Please.”

“…Okay.” Morgana leaped up into Futaba’s lap as the girl typed away on her computer. She pulled up the footage and played it, watching intently. She watched as she and Sojiro left, and all the events that transpired later. The girl let out a gasp as she saw Akira pin Hikaru against the wall, and then let go a few moments later after a bright flash that blinded the cameras. When the lights died down, Hikaru was standing, but Apollo behind him wasn’t visible in human technology. There was no way to capture an image of a Persona. Akira closed his eyes again, and Hikaru ran out.

“…What happened in there?” Morgana asked, looking back at Hikaru with a concerned expression.

“What I say doesn’t leave this room, okay?” The two nodded, now eager to learn the truth.

Hikaru sat on the bed, wondering where to start. He supposed he should start from the beginning of everything, shouldn’t he?

~~~

“…That’s a lot.”

Morgana had begun drowsing through the middle of Hikaru’s explanation, saying something about his memories clearing up. He said something about the Velvet Room, Igor, and the false god, and had passed out. Futaba wanted to wait for Morgana, but Hikaru told her that it’ll be fine, he could repeat the story.

“That’s my situation right now. So, for now, I won’t be able to act alongside the Phantom Thieves until I know exactly what’s happening with Akira properly, whether it was Yaldabaoth fully possessing Akira or just partially. I need to know if the Akira I loved is still in there.”

Futaba gagged. “God, that’s some cheesy shit right there.”

Hikaru laughed. “Well, that’s the trademark.”

“I’m not going to lie, Hikaru, but this is hard for me to believe. But the proof is right there, isn’t it?” Futaba turned back to the footage that has been left on the screen, forgotten. “Akira would never hurt you, intentional or otherwise.”

“So I’ll help. I can help with any behavior monitoring, or info gathering on the part of the Thieves. I can also ask him what happened to see if he was conscious during the whole thing. What will you do if he wasn’t, though? Wouldn’t he be confused as to why you’re suddenly not with everyone? Wouldn’t everyone feel that way?”

Hikaru hadn’t thought of that. How could he explain this to everyone? Before he could say anything, though, Morgana had woke up.

“…I remember now.” The two teenagers turned over when the cat spoke.

“Remember what? Your lost memories?” Hikaru asked, pulling the cat into his lap.

“Yeah. It was thanks to what you said about the Velvet Room and Igor that jogged my memory. After all, I was created in that room too.” Morgana sat on his hind legs.

“I was created with the purpose of guiding the Trickster by my true master, the master of the Velvet Room, Igor. But when I was sent out into the Sea of Souls, my memory was lost, and I was just left wandering around. I appeared from the depths of Mementos…” Morgana looked down, thinking to himself.

“So I’m really not human…” Morgana wondered out loud.

Hikaru pet him on the head, which caught the cat’s attention.

“I told you, right? It doesn’t matter what you are, or what you will become. To us, you’re Morgana, the Phantom Thief who believes he’s human. Isn’t that good enough?”

Futaba nodded in agreement. “I mean, I’ve never seen a human who’s become a cat, so I never really thought you were human in the first place. But I still love you!” She snatched Morgana into her embrace, giving him cuddles.

“Well, now what do we do? I’m still going to have to report the data from Kobayakawa’s phone, but you aren’t going to be there, are you?” Hikaru shook his head.

“Well, I guess I can tell you now.” Futaba turned back to her computer, pulling up the browser and control panel she had in the background. “The code was well-encrypted, but once you get the hang of it, it was easy to solve the rest of it. The number was linked to a man named Daichi Kimikura, the current Director of the Special Investigations Unit, the SIU for short. Powerful people.”

“So this goes up all the way to the top of the police force…No wonder this hasn’t been reported at all on. They’ve cut the source info, making it hard for any reporters to even get proper scoops.”

“But more importantly, what are we going to do about you and Akira, and the Phantom Thieves as a whole?” Morgana asked from his spot.

“Well, that’s where you two come in. I’ll need eyes and ears on whatever happens with the Phantom Thieves while I do some digging for more leads. I’ll also need a cover story, so we’ll figure that one out later. It’ll still be the same dynamic, except now you’re down a person in the Metaverse, that’s it. I’ll still provide information and guidance where I can. Morgana, you cannot tell anyone about your memories, at least for now. If your goal is to guide Akira from ruin, you need to keep Yaldabaoth unknowing about your true origin.”

“Alright. Then we have a plan."

~~~

School restarted, and Hikaru was nervous for a whole other reason. The day after he told Futaba and Akira everything, Futaba had confirmed that Akira didn’t remember anything arriving at the airport. He had guessed that it might be due to him being too tired and didn’t question it too much.

There was so much happening, he had totally forgotten that Kobayakawa was dead.

There was a short memorial service for the principal, the teachers each taking their turn to pay respects to the deceased man. After that, classes resumed as normal, but Hikaru couldn’t stop feeling Akira’s stare on his back. He thought of talking to him again but decided against it. He felt guilty, yes, but if Akira knew the truth, he would’ve wanted this too.

After school, Hikaru quickly rushed off, heading home immediately. When Ryuji had asked if he wanted to hang out, he declined, spouting some half-bullshit excuse about family issues and needing to be home. Ryuji accepted it easily, which made Hikaru feel guilty for kind of lying, but he had to. He couldn’t encounter Akira again until he was sure everything was fine.

His phone rang as he got in the limo headed home.

**_PM: AK - > HA_ **

**_AK:_ ** _where are u_

**_AK:_ ** _wanna join me and ryuji and go to the arcade_

Hikaru sighed, pocketing his phone without replying. It would be better for him to not reply.

When he got home, he quickly showered and began preparing. Tonight was the night of the party, and who knows what else awaits him? He already felt so stressed and exhausted by all the events that have happened the past few days, he didn’t know if he could handle anything more. He stayed in the bath for a while, just to pass time, since he did get home early. After that, he took his time getting dressed, wearing one of the new suits he had bought.

“Young Master, are you ready?” Yamato had asked, knocking on his door. Hikaru groaned, adjusting his cuff links one final time. He was now in a clean two-piece suit, hair slightly styled back. The suit consisted of a dark red shirt and a black coat, along with matching trousers. It was simple, yet effective. He had decided to forgo the tie, loosening the top button of his shirt to allow him to breathe freely. He was one of the most important people in the room, for god’s sake, he didn’t need to suffocate from stuffy ties and buttoned-up shirts.

His hair was slicked back, with a small amount of wax added to keep it still. Hikaru sighed. If anyone looked at him, they wouldn’t even be able to tell that he was the same, messy kid who wore hoodies under his uniform.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Come in.” The elder man entered, bowing. Hikaru turned his head to face his father’s assistant, a trusted family friend.

“Your father is waiting for you, ready to depart when you are.”

“That’s great. Also, real question, should I do the gloves or is that too extra for this kind of event?” On Hikaru’s desk were a pair of white cloth gloves, designed for comfort and style.

“I would say do it. This is a rare occasion for you since you started school, so why not go all out? Make an impression.” Hikaru rolled his eyes, but slid the gloves on. A pair of dress shoes have already been prepared, so he slipped them on and was ready to go.

“What a rare sight, to see you like this. You truly look like the heir to a mega-corporation,” Yamato commented, gaining a side glare from Hikaru.

His father was waiting in the living room, checking his phone while waiting. Once he saw Hikaru emerge, he smiled, standing up and patting Hikaru on the shoulder. Hikaru gave him a wry grin back.

“Thanks again for doing this, Hikaru.”

“No problem, Dad. You deserve this, at least.”

Kazuyoshi nodded his head, giving Hikaru one more pat on the shoulder. The two of them left the house, getting on the limo prepared.

They sat in comfortable silence, Hikaru mentally scrolling through the multiple views on his friends, just checking if they seemed to affected by his absence. Akira and Ryuji didn’t seem too concerned, playing some arcade game with a kid with a weird hat, but it hasn’t been too long, so he shouldn’t expect too much so soon.

“We’re here, sir.” Kazuyoshi nodded, moving to the edge of the seat. As the car came to a stop, the driver came out and opened the door, allowing the father and son to walk the red carpet leading into the building the Okumura had rented for the event. Outside, there were plenty of photographers ready to commemorate the event.

As soon as the two Aozoras have stepped out of the limo, flashes of cameras immediately went off. It was a rare event these days to spot Hikaru making an official appearance as the heir of the Aozora, so this event, in particular, was going to be popular. Hikaru had basically done Okumura a huge favor in terms of PR.

Kazuyoshi walked in front of Hikaru, giving the cameras a small wave and smile. Hikaru did the same, not wanting to seem unkind or arrogant as some richer people are. The two of them quickly made their way into the building, not wanting to get blinded by more flashes from cameras.

Once they entered, a receptionist was by the door into the main ballroom. Immediately after seeing the two of them, the receptionist stood up and bowed, opening the door for the two of them.

“Okumura-san has been waiting for you, Aozora-san. Thank you for taking the time to attend such an event.”

“It’s our pleasure. Come, Hikaru, shall we go?” The heir nodded, and both of them entered the ballroom. The room itself was massive, with a small stage set up against the back. There were two rows of tables on the sides, one set with food and the other with drinks. Soft classical music could be heard, giving the atmosphere a classy touch.

It was already filled with plenty of people, but everyone immediately silenced at seeing the two Aozoras enter the room. The crowd parted, revealing Okumura and his daughter, Haru. The two parties greeted each other with a bow.

“Once again, thank you for attending, Aozora-san. It is great to see your son once again as well. It must be a hectic time, with school restarting and all. It is the same with my daughter as well.” He gestured to Haru, who nodded without looking up.

“Well, it is in both our interests to maintain a good relationship, is it not, Okumura-san?” Hikaru responded, drawing a chuckle from Okumura.

“As blunt as always, I see. You certainly do take after your father. Well, I shall not hold you back any further. Please, go around and enjoy the party. I’ll be making my announcement later in the evening when all the guests have arrived.”

The host left, leaving the two Aozoras in the midst of the party. Immediately after Okumura left, however, a politician tried to talk to Kazuyoshi, leaving Hikaru out of the conversation. His father gestured at him, allowing him to roam on his own without much worry. Hikaru’s public image showed that he was a sharp-tongued individual who wouldn’t hesitate to retort back, and most people respected that enough to back off.

Well, most people.

Hikaru had wandered over to the drinks section, deciding to get a cup of punch when a man tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and cringed internally.

Takeda, the noble who had verbally dissed him on the beach the other day, was there, adjusting his tie nervously. Hikaru stared him down, not saying a word. The noble shifted his feet, cowering under the heir’s gaze.

Hikaru, finally, sick of waiting for him to speak, said something.

“Takeda-san. How can I help you?” The noble shook like a small animal staring into the eyes of a predator.

“…I-I just w-wanted to apol-apologize for my actions th-the other day…” He stammered out. The noble closed his eyes, cursing out the heir in his head.

_Why the hell do I have to be so scared in front of a goddamn brat like him?_

Of course, he didn’t know that the heir could read his thoughts perfectly.

Hikaru groaned internally. “If you are going to apologize so halfheartedly, you might as well forget it.”

Takeda flinched, trying to say something but Hikaru wasn’t done.

“I’ll ignore it this time, Takeda-san. But if something like that ever happens again anywhere near me, you won’t like it.” Hikaru growled out the last part of the sentence, making the threat clear. The noble nodded frantically, whispering out a ‘thank you for your kindness’, and ran off into the crowd.

“That was certainly a sight to see.” Hikaru turned to see the heiress of the Okumura approaching him, a hand covering her smile. “I never liked him anyway.”

“Nice to see you too, Senpai.” Hikaru gave a slight bow, Haru doing a curtsy.

“Shall we move somewhere else to talk?” Hikaru asked. Haru nodded, a knowing glint in her eyes. She led him out of the hall and into a separate room. Immediately once the door was shut behind them, Haru broke her proper posture and groaned out loud.

“You have no idea how tiring it was for me to do that since the start of the night,” Haru huffed out, slumping onto a chair.

“Must be hell. That’s why I never come to these things.” Hikaru gave her a mocking grin. Haru playfully glared at him.

“So how have things been? I rarely even see you in school, since _someone_ doesn’t come and help this young, weak lady with her gardening.” Hikaru rolled his eyes.

“Haru, you’re probably strong enough to bench press me easily. I’m a weak noodle, you know.” Hikaru wiggled his thin arm to demonstrate his point, but Haru’s eyes sharpened.

“Is that muscle mass I’m beginning to see, Hikaru? Have you been, god forbid, working out?” Haru teased, making Hikaru groan.

“How the hell do you even see muscle mass under layers of clothing…?” Hikaru muttered under his breath. Before any of them could say anything else, Haru’s phone rang. She looked at it and grimaced.

“I don’t want to answer it, but I have to…” Hikaru waved for her to, and she did, putting on her ‘polite’ voice.

“Hello? Sugimura-san? Yes, I’m in the washroom right now…” She pretended to gag as her cute voice continued answering whoever was on the line, making Hikaru snicker.

Haru ended the call and pointed her middle finger at her phone. Hikaru laughed. “Who was that for you to be so pissed?”

“My ‘fiancé’, Sugimura. More like slave owner, fucking bitch.” Hikaru’s eyes widened at the cussing Haru did. She usually didn’t swear that much, only reserving it for the people that deserved it the most.

“What do you mean, slave owner?” Hikaru asked.

“Didn’t you know? My father planned today to announce that he planned to move into politics, leaving Okumura Foods. My arranged marriage, which is about a month from now, with Sugimura is apparently the start of that since Sugimura’s the son of some wealthy politician. ‘Marriage’ honestly is more of a formality, it’s more ‘selling off’.” Haru leaned against the table, letting out a sigh.

“Can’t you say something to your father?” Hikaru suggested, but Haru shook her head.

“If only it was that easy. I tried, but he just said to ‘listen well and don’t make a fuss’,” Haru retorted, frowning. Hikaru hummed, taking a seat next to her.

“No offense, Haru, but your father’s an asshole.” Haru let out a sad chuckle.

“At this point, all I can do is pray. To who, I don’t know. The Phantom Thieves?” Hikaru perked up at that. An idea popped into the head. This sounds like an issue with a corrupt adult, so why not kill two birds with one stone? Satisfy the rankings and save Haru?

“I think I have a way to help you,” Hikaru said, using his powers to pull up an interface. Haru let out a gasp as Hikaru encrypted a message asking for help, sending it directly to Futaba. He got a reply quite quickly.

_Got it. Get her to meet Akira or Makoto, and we can arrange a meeting._

Hikaru sighed in relief. It seems that something can be done about Haru’s situation.

“What was…that?” Hikaru looked back, seeing Haru’s wide eyes. She shouldn’t have been able to see anything strange, since she wasn’t a Persona user, wasn’t that how it works? Apollo gave him the answer.

_“The spirit of rebellion burns strong in her. Ask her to join the rest in the change of heart.”_

“…Well, isn’t that just awfully coincidental?” Hikaru said to himself. He then faced Haru, a determined grin on his face.

“Alright, when school ends tomorrow, go look for either Akira Kurusu, the famous delinquent transfer student, or Makoto Niijima, the student council president. Tell them your situation, that I sent you, and that Futaba can explain. That should set you up, and once you’re in, tell them you want to come along. If they say no, say that Apollo gave you the okay, alright?”

“Alright…? I still don’t get what this is all about, but sure?” Haru sounded awfully confused but remembered Hikaru’s instructions.

“Trust me, I, no, we’ll get you out of this. Thief’s promise,” Hikaru said with a wink. Haru let out a gasp, but then giggled.

“Then I have no choice but to trust you. Now, we should head back before Sugimura blows an aneurysm.”

~~~

It was after school the next day, and Haru felt slightly nervous, but also excited. She felt like a secret agent, knowing secret info that no one else around them knew. She giggled to herself, heading to the student council room. The heiress gave the door a soft knock, entering once she heard a ‘come in’.

“Ah, you are…Okumura-san, yes?” Makoto Niijima was seated at the desk, a small pile of paperwork in front of her. Since it is the new semester, she had to regulate club activities and manage funds, which could be a bit of a chore.

“Yes, Niijima-san.”

“Please, take a seat. What can I do for you today?” Haru sat down opposite of the student council president.

“Well, I had a bit of a personal issue, and someone recommended me to talk to you about it.”

Makoto tilted her head in confusion, but didn’t say anything. She was supposed to represent the student body, so it is important for her to listen to the students’ concerns. But someone recommending her? That was new. Most people would say just talk to an adult.

Haru told Makoto her story of what was going on, from her lineage to her marriage. Makoto listened silently, responding whenever she saw an opportunity to show that she was listening. After she finished, Haru let out a huff, taking a sip of water that Makoto had handed her early on.

“That’s awful, Okumura-san, but I don’t think I can do anything about it. I’m but a student council president, who can’t control things beyond the school…I’m sorry.” Makoto bowed her head, but Haru made a confused noise.

“But Hikaru told me to talk to you…” She said out loud, catching Makoto’s attention.

“Hikaru? Hikaru Aozora?” Makoto confirmed.

Haru nodded. “He said to tell you that he sent me, and that someone named Futaba will explain everything else.”

Makoto’s demeanor immediately changed when Haru mentioned the name Futaba. “In that case, can you come with me? I don’t know why Hikaru couldn’t just tell us himself, but he must have his reasons.”

Makoto got up, grabbing her bag with her. Haru, seeing this, did the same. Curiously, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“To meet the people who can help you.”

Haru quietly followed Makoto, jumping into the train headed for Yongen-Jaya. She didn’t usually come to these parts of town, so it was nice to see the other, less modern parts of Tokyo. Makoto led her into a small alleyway, entering a small café with a sign above that said “Leblanc: Coffee & Curry”.

Makoto entered and nodded at the man behind the counter, who was cleaning a coffee cup. The man eyed Haru, who bowed but nodded towards the stairs leading up into the attic, and the two of them went up. There, she saw a few interesting characters. Three of the people present, excluding Makoto and herself, were wearing Shujin uniforms. There was a black-haired boy with glasses, a blond with a slouch, and a girl with blonde pigtails. Next to them was a blue-haired boy wearing the Kosei uniform, sketching something on a sketchbook, and finally, a ginger-haired girl crouched on a chair, typing something on her laptop.

The ginger-haired girl noticed them first, and upon seeing Haru, nodded. “So, you’re the one Hikaru told me about. Haru Okumura, right?”

Makoto introduced everyone. “That’s, in order, Akira Kurusu, Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, Yusuke Kitagawa, and Futaba Sakura. Everyone, this is Haru Okumura.”

“Wait, Okumura?! As in, Okumura Foods?” Ryuji blurted out, gaining a smack from Ann.

“Futaba said that it was sensitive!”

“Oh, sorry…”

Haru giggled. Was this the rumored Phantom Thieves? They seemed so lively. “Please, don’t worry about it. Yes, I’m Haru Okumura, the daughter of Kunikazu Okumura, the CEO of Okumura Foods.”

A meowing caught her attention. She turned over to see a cat had wandered its way up into the attic, looking at her with wide eyes. “Oh, who is this handsome gentleman?” She asked, moving to pet him on the head.

“That’s Morgana, my pet,” Akira said. Morgana let out a content meow, and the equivalent of a smile for a cat. He leaped onto Haru’s lap and curled up, letting out soft purrs.

“Don’t mind him. Well, why don’t you tell everyone here what you told me, and we’ll see what we can do for you.” At this point, Haru was a bit sick of telling the same story over and over again. It seemed that Futaba picked up on her slight irritation, and decided to help her out.

“No need, I got the gist of it from Hikaru.” With a wave of her hands, she displayed the message that Hikaru had sent her to everyone. It contained Haru’s story, as well as his opinion on what they should do.

“…Arranged marriage?” Akira read, eyes narrowing. “That’s terrible.”

“Personally, I don’t mind, but Sugimura is…a character.” Haru clenched a fist against her chest. “He has repeatedly attempted to force me to have sex with him, even when I had told him no. Fortunately, I have managed to get away every time, but he tells it to my father and he would reprimand me for not listening to my future husband…”

“That’s terrible! What a piece of shit!” Ryuji grumbled, trying to calm himself down. It reminded him of Kamoshida and the things he did to the girls on the volleyball team, and that made his blood boil.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Hikaru to discuss things going forth?” Makoto asked, but Futaba shook her head.

“He told me to go on ahead. He didn’t say a reason why, just said he had something to deal with, and that we could start the operation first if he doesn’t get everything sorted out in time. Haru’s problem takes priority.” Akira stopped himself from saying anything. It has been a couple of days since he last properly spoke to Hikaru, and he wondered if he might’ve done something wrong, but everyone seemed to deny it.

“…Well, if he says so,” Makoto said, but her hesitance was clear on her face. Everyone was reluctant to start a heist without their second-in-command, but the situation left them no choice. They needed to save Haru as quickly as they could, since her time left before she was given off to Sugimura was ticking down.

“I checked Okumura’s keywords on the list that Hikaru gave, and they’re still correct. We can head in now if you want,” Futaba said, looking over to Akira. The leader looked around, and seeing nods, agreed. There was no time to waste.

Akira turned to Haru, who had been looking around in confusion. “Don’t worry, we’ll save you from this problem, I promise.”

Haru nodded. “Thank you very much, but I have a request, if you don’t mind.”

Akira raised a brow. “And that would be?”

“May I come along? I feel that it is my responsibility as it is my father. I would only feel content if I was able to witness my father having his change of heart myself.”

Everyone stopped moving. The Thieves started looking at each other, and all eyes finally landed on Akira and Makoto, who were looking at Haru with concern.

“You must know, how we change hearts isn’t exactly safe. There are dangers and risks involved,” Makoto said, trying to dissuade Haru, but she was stubborn.

“I am aware that it might seem reckless of me, but I want to be able to stand up to my father, and, perhaps call it a gut feeling, but I feel that I should help you all, even if it means putting myself in danger.”

“Okumura-senpai,” Akira laid his hands on her shoulders, “the most helpful thing you can do for us is staying here. It isn’t that you aren’t strong, or that you would be useless, but what we do is special and different from what normal people do. It could be life-threatening for someone who isn’t prepared, and we are down a man. We don’t know if we can ensure our own safety, let alone yours.”

“But Hikaru told me that I should follow you all!” Haru argued back, catching all of them in surprise. “He said something about Apollo giving me the green light, and to tell all of you to take me with you!”

“…Why can’t Hikaru be here right now?” Akira fussed, trying to think. If Apollo gave her the pass, does that mean that he sensed something in her? Perhaps she was meant to be a Persona user as well?

“Alright, fine.”

“Wait, you’re just changing your mind like that?!” Ryuji exclaimed.

“Yeah, I’m with Ryuji on this one. Palaces are dangerous, Akira. It was a miracle I made it out the time I went in without knowing what was up.” Ann crossed her arms.

“I’m with Akira.” Everyone turned to Futaba, who was looking at her laptop. “I trust Hikaru’s judgement, and if he believes that there’s a reason for her being there, then I’ll go with it. I trust that he’s making the right decision.”

“…Well, it’s not that I don’t trust Hikaru, it’s just…” Ryuji looked down, feeling conflicted.

“I get what you’re saying, Ryuji.” The delinquent looked up to Makoto. “It just doesn’t feel right without Hikaru here. It’s also a tall order, to help some random person and take them with us while we’re at it. It’s quite a lot from Hikaru, who isn’t even here to say anything. But keep in mind that Hikaru has yet to lead us astray. His ability to guide us, whether in the Metaverse or in reality, has always been amazing.”

“I agree with that. I suppose I am still not that close to Hikaru personally, but he has listened to my ‘art talks’, as you all call it, and has never complained or told me to stop. I personally find that pleasant company,” Yusuke added, speaking up for the first time since Haru arrived.

“…I guess we’ll do it. Just hope he can rejoin us soon. Feels wrong without him here.”

No one noticed Morgana’s silence, and his pleading look towards Futaba, who shook her head silently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take a guess as to what Hikaru will do now.


	32. Distrust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deeper into Okumura, and distrust and heartbreak.

Haru’s Awakening was no surprise, really. Well, Noir, as she should be called.

Sky had snuck into Okumura’s Palace a bit after the Phantom Thieves entered and watched them from a distance, just to make sure they were safe. It seemed that Akechi was on the move again, so he watched closely to make sure that they made no contact with him while he was wandering about.

Oracle had definitely noticed him immediately but said nothing. Sky chuckled, seeing the string of emojis she had sent him, followed by a marking of their current location. Sky overlaid it with his map and found a path that would give him a view of their main infiltration path while also remaining unseen.

“This is definitely a new view…” Sky muttered to himself. He then noticed a reading ahead of him and cursed. Slinging out his rifle, he attached the silencer he got from Untouchable and took aim. It seems that gunshots also worked, surprisingly, on robots. He fired a silent shot, destroying the Shadow down the path without any issue.

Sky entered the observation deck over the factory area and laid in wait. Before the Phantom Thieves arrived, however, someone else did. A large robot that looked like the inflatable noodle that was displayed in front of some Big Bang Burger stores appeared, and immediately yelled at seeing Sky.

“How did you get in here?! Men!” A line of robots appeared, each preparing an elemental attack to use. Sky stretched and prepared himself. Time to test his new physical feats.

“Fire!” Sky leaped into the air, dodging the sharp gust of wind aimed for his legs. While in the air, he twisted his body, getting out of the way of the beam of nuclear energy. Once he landed, he dashed to the side, getting out of the way of the blasts of fire aimed at him. He pulled out some throwing knives from a small pouch on his belt, tossing them accurately into the heads of three robots in the front.

The commander robot growled, slinging its long arms that extended mid-swing towards Sky. The navigator ducked it cleanly, and jumped up, pulling off his goggles in the air with a grin. Apollo materialized in an instant, his arrow already nocked and aimed.

“Apollo, Supernova!”

Sharp beams of light refracted from Apollo’s arrow as he fired it, piercing the rest of the robots in the head, frying their cores thoroughly, all within the blink of an eye. The robots fell down and vanished into dust.

Sky landed on his feet with a soft hum, a content smile on his face. He felt good about himself and Apollo’s new strength. It was much more powerful than what he had before, which was already strong in its own right when compared to the others. But it did come with its consequences. He couldn’t push it too hard; he was already beginning to feel exhausted.

The loud voice of Futaba’s telepathy startled him.

_What the hell was that?! That was so cool! I thought you were screwed when so many robots showed up and was just about to send the SOS signal! How OP are you? I thought Joker was OP with his multiple Personas, and you pull off this bullshit! I don’t even think he could’ve done that so cleanly!_

_“Let’s just say I had a power-up cheat code. That one attack took a lot out of me, though. I feel like shit.”_

_Well, that makes sense. You just took out almost ten robots in one hit, after all._

Sky scoffed at Oracle’s heavy sarcasm.

_Also, we’re rounding the corner._

Sky slipped back into position, going back to his new job of distant surveillance. He felt much more confident in his abilities to act solo in the Metaverse, since it was so much easier to fight without having to worry about everyone’s position and situation.

“But,” he mused to himself out loud, “I suppose numbers are an advantage as well.” He looked down to where the Thieves surrounded a Shadow and delivered the finishing blow from multiple angles, making quick work of a strong Shadow.

While the group rested in a safe room, Sky had decided to go ahead of them and attempt to scout Akechi’s location. With his newfound strength, he felt a lot better about fighting him should the situation come to it. But hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.

He saw Akechi in the outside area of the space station, where there is a thin layer of atmosphere allowing them to breathe. The man was absolutely ravaging any Shadow in his path, tearing them apart easily with a manic grin. His Persona was indeed not Robin Hood, like what Merlin had scanned all that while ago, but a black and white striped figure leaning on a sword.

Sky stayed silent as he tried to get a reading on that Persona. The flames around it were red, which were different from what he had seen. These flames were tinted red with anger, suffering, and anguish. It was heart-wrenching, knowing that Akechi suffered so much but was alone, with no one to help him. That was what led to this.

The Persona was Loki, the legendary Norse trickster god. Fitting, Sky supposed. It explained the Curse affinity, and definitely the power difference between him and Robin Hood. Sky watched as Akechi summoned Loki once again, ripping the poor Shadow in front of him into shreds, no mercy in his actions.

Sky clicked his tongue. Akechi had no trouble at all clearing his path, he just lacked the ability to navigate the Palace efficiently like Sky could. At this rate, it wouldn’t take long for him to stumble upon the Treasure Room. Then, if the Thieves sent the calling card, he would be immediately notified and could easily come in to clean them all off.

Akechi paused, and Sky immediately backed off. He had no idea of how sensitive the detective was of his surroundings, and he had no plan to find out.

~~~

It’s been days since Akira had last talked properly to Hikaru. At this point, he knows for a fact that Hikaru is avoiding him. And not just him, but the Thieves in general. Futaba kept saying that he was busy on something, but to not talk to them in school or anywhere else? That was suspicious.

Akira tried once again immediately after school ended.

“Hey, Hikaru,” he tried to say, but the heir slipped on his earphones and left, not a glance in Akira’s direction. Next to him, Ann was beginning to get irritated.

“Again? He’s been avoiding all of us for days, now!” She complained, resting her chin on her hands. “Are we really going to finish Okumura’s Palace without any help from Hikaru?”

“At this point, I think so…” Akira muttered, staring at the doorway which Hikaru left from.

Meanwhile, Hikaru had already left the compound, heading over to Shibuya. He first stopped by Untouchable, Iwai letting out a soft huff as he saw Hikaru enter.

“Here you go, kid. Doesn’t Akira usually do all the buying for your ‘activities’?” He asked, but Hikaru shook his head.

“Not this time. He and I had some…disagreements, I guess, so for now, I’m going solo.” Iwai shrugged, letting Hikaru look around. The store owner wasn’t going to ask more about something he probably didn’t want to know about. Akira can handle himself.

“Oh, is this new?” Hikaru asked, grabbing a few model knives made for throwing. Iwai glanced over them and nodded. They were made with rainbow-colored stainless steel, with darkened steel as the hilt to maintain balance on the weapon. Iwai smirked. The kid had a good eye.

“Tell you what, you’ve bought a shit ton of goods, I’ll let you take that one on the house.” Hikaru’s face brightened.

“Really? I’m okay with paying, these aren’t that expensive,” Hikaru tried to argue, but Iwai shook his head with a smile.

“You were the one that paid for that sniper all that while ago, and you’ve bought plenty since. Consider it a membership discount.”

“Well, if you insist, it would be rude of me to decline. Thank you very much.” Hikaru gave a deep bow, which Iwai waved off.

Hikaru left the store happily, a new set of throwing knives in his hands. He still considered himself a novice in using them, but it seems that Apollo makes it up for that, enhancing his accuracy greatly in the Metaverse. He had tried tossing one in his house on a dartboard, but missed entirely, almost making a hole in his wall.

When he started going solo, he considered going to Takemi’s to get medicine, but decided against it, since Akira had to strike up a personal deal to even get Takemi to sell him things on the shelf without any question. Hikaru would have no chance. He would have to rely on pacing himself and Apollo’s healing to make it for now.

“Let’s go practice in Mementos, I guess…” Hikaru muttered to himself, pulling out his phone to jump into Mementos, eyes watching the presence tailing him.

~~~

Mona leaped into the Metaverse following Sky, both of them landing at the entrance of Mementos. Sky hummed, giving Mona a pat on the head. The cat purred, sitting by the guardrail.

“You’re going to clear requests?” Mona asked. Sky nodded, bringing out his phone to scroll through the list of requests he had noted down previously. There were a total of three requests he had written down as important, while two more as second priority. Mona shrugged, heading down the escalator and arriving at the train tracks. He jumped and transformed, landing on the tracks.

“Get on, then.” Sky shrugged, getting into the driver’s seat. He originally planned to go on the tracks with Apollo’s chariot, but he supposed that this would be a better alternative.

The drive was silent, a nice change to the chaotic mess that was their usual Mementos explorations. Sky hummed a soft tune as he sped past the large Shadows casually, trying not to exhaust himself where he could. They had quite the distance to go, after all.

It didn’t take long until the navigator was idly singing loudly in the car.

“ _You’ll never see it coming~,”_ Sky sang, crashing into a large Shadow that blocked the entire path. He backflipped out of the car, throwing some knives where the Shadows materialized. The knives pierced the Shadows’ skulls, all of them letting out a monstrous screech and dissipating immediately. Sky got back into the Mona car, who couldn’t even transform in time to join the fight.

“Well, moving on,” Sky said nonchalantly and continued cruising down the track.

“That was…something. Don’t you need to pick those knives up?” Mona asked, not knowing what else to say as to what he just saw. Was Sky always that strong, or did something happen in the period of time that Mona hadn’t seen him?

“No, they return automatically after battle. It’s the same concept as bullets, since no one would expect you to go into battle without a full set of knives.” Sky reached into the holster on his side with one hand, and sure enough, there was a set of six throwing knives.

“Have you been doing this alone for this entire while, then?”

“No, I just come on days that I have nothing to do. Usually I follow you all into Okumura’s Palace.” Mona made a weird sound, sounding like a hiss and meow at the same time.

“Wait, where?! Were you just behind us the entire time?!”

“Uh, no, of course not. Don’t you think you would’ve seen me if we were in the long, empty, metal corridor? I’m better at hiding than you think, you know. It helps that I know every nook and cranny of the entire Palace.”

Mona stopped at the next platform, leaping onto Sky’s shoulder from the tracks. Sky hummed, heading down to the next floor. As they arrived, a sense of discomfort made Mona’s fur stand on end.

“We’re here. There should be a target on this floor.” Sky nodded, resting his palms on the ground. A large wave of energy pulsed outwards, marking the edges of distortion on this floor. He could feel a hole in the distortion down to the left, and marked it on his mental map. Target found. Mona watched with amazement at Sky’s ability to gather info so easily and let out an internal sigh of relief that he was on their side.

“Well, let’s go, then.”

They easily found their way to the distortion and drove in. Inside, a man in a business suit waited, dark aura surrounding him. He cursed and swore, saying something about useless trash and incompetent fools.

“So you’re the abusive chief employee, right?” Sky asked, catching the attention of the man. He glared at the two Thieves, cursing at them. Sky shook his head as the Shadow wasted no time, transforming into a demonic dragon, with bright yellow eyes and bat-like wings.

Sky watched with disinterest as it charged a Fire attack, aiming straight for him. Mona seemed a bit panicked at the sheer power of the attack and tried to warn him. “Sky, shouldn’t you move?!”

The beast released a stream of bright flames, which brushed off of Sky with no damage done. Mona’s jaw dropped open while Sky grinned.

“Real sorry here, my dude, but you’re against a terrible matchup.”

With a snap of his fingers, balls of bright light appeared around Sky, each growing brighter as time passed. With a wave of his hands, the balls of light launched forward, stunning the Shadow. It growled, and prepared a different attack, this time preparing to use a Physical attack.

“I would love to stay, but I’m on a bit of a time crunch here. I still have at least two more Shadows to clear, after all.” Sky reached a hand up to his face, ripping his goggles off. Apollo materialized and prepared an arrow aiming for the Shadow’s wing.

“Apollo, Solar Flare!”

The arrow became blindingly bright, the rays of light released pinning the creature in place. Apollo then fired, knocking the Shadow down with a large hole in its wing. The dark aura from before surrounded it once again, leaving the man on the ground, a panicked expression on his face.

“No, don’t hurt me!” The man said, curling up into a ball as Sky approached. Sky sighed, crossing his arms and squatting down, looking at the businessman at eye level.

“I don’t want to kill you. I want you to realize what you’ve done. The world doesn’t revolve around you, so stop thinking it does. I don’t like violence as much as anyone. But people are suffering, so someone has to do something about this, you know.”

“…I’m sorry. I’ll apologize properly to everyone…” The Shadow turned into bright light, turning into a sheet of folded paper.

“What is it?” Mona asked. Sky passed it over to him, allowing the cat to read it over. “Note of Promotion…so this was started because the power of his promotion got to his head.”

“Seems like it. Sad thing is, it’s not that uncommon. I’ve heard stories about it plenty when I was a kid.” Sky turned back to the entrance to the distorted space. “Well, let’s get going. We still have plenty of targets to clear out.”

Mona grinned. “I suppose you would be stuck without my great senses!” Sky smiled as a response, reaching out to pat Mona on the head.

~~~

Mona hadn’t really done much at all, in terms of combat. He was just stuck watching in awe as Sky absolutely obliterated any Shadow they came into contact with. By the time they finished the three in top priority, Sky had suffered a total of almost zero wounds, only one Zionga that charred a part of his arm. The scout didn’t even have to interfere for healing.

“Apollo, Sun’s Gift.”

Gentle music surrounded Sky as golden light covered the wound, clearing the burnt skin without any sign that it was ever there. The teen gave it a pat to make sure that it was fine and continued on. At this point, Mona let out a sigh, shaking his head fondly. Why was he surprised at this point?

The only time he had to do something was when an enemy with a light immunity had shown up. It kept flying around, making it hard for Sky to hit his knives, and the small area made it hard to use his rifle. Mona had conjured winds to guide Sky’s knives, making them almost like homing missiles. Sky had hummed, giving Mona a calculating thought.

“That’s a pretty good combo. I suppose it would be easier to guide those than bullets, since you can see the knives…” Mona nodded.

“Bullets are too small for me to see properly, and they’re usually accurate enough to not need my help to hit something. But for moving targets, your knives might be at a disadvantage there.”

Sky nodded. He then shrugged. “Well, if you’re with me, I won’t have to worry about that, then. Thanks, Mona.” The cat mewled at getting praised.

“Well, that’s only because it’s the amazing me, after all! Not anyone can do what the savior of humanity can do, you know!” Sky smiled. At least Mona didn’t act any differently compared to how he usually did after gaining his memories. He was still the Mona that was prideful, stubborn, and infatuated with pretty women. It was a relief.

Well, mostly.

They were going at such a good rate that they managed to clean up the two other requests as well, Sky starting to feel exhausted after using Apollo’s abilities so much over the past few days. He would have to take a few days off of Thief activities to properly rest himself, or he might overstrain himself.

The sound of loud chains broke Sky’s train of thought. He quickly floored the pedal, swerving out of the way of the huge Shadows that occupied the tracks, cursing as he did it.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” A loud gunshot rang throughout the subway, and a whistling noise was heard right past Mona’s ears. The cat car let out a yelp, slightly skidding to the side and barely avoiding turning over.

“It’s catching up!” Sure enough, when Sky looked at the rearview mirror, he saw a large Shadow approaching them at insane speeds, its arm aimed at them. The arm resembled the barrel of a rifle and seemed to work like it too, if the bullet they barely avoided was any indication.

“We might have to fight this!” Sky yelled. The platform was too far for them to get there in time if the Reaper continued flying at that speed.

“You want us to fight that?! Just the two of us?! Are you mad?!” Mona shrieked in panic, but couldn’t do anything as Sky turned the car around to face the Shadow and getting out.

“We don’t have a choice, Mona!” Sky summoned his Persona, which aimed an arrow at the Reaper.

“Apollo, Solar Flare!”

The Persona’s arrows glowed brightly once again, and shot it directly towards the Reaper. The Shadow tried to block it but cried out when the arrow pierced its tough skin. It let out a roar of pain, pointing its gun once again towards Sky. It pulled the trigger, summoning an insane amount of sharp ice shards and launching them from all directions.

Sky tried his best, but it was impossible to dodge everything cleanly. A shard had stabbed into his left arm and another one into the right side of his abdomen. He cursed and went back on the offensive. He needed to do a lot of damage, fast, or he would lose this battle of stamina.

“Apollo, rapid fire!”

Apollo nodded, repeatedly nocking arrows and firing them at an incredible speed. Sky attempted to pull the shards out of his body, kneeling on the ground while he did it. Mona rushed over and charged up a Diarahan, covering the wounds and restoring the torn skin and flesh in a moment.

“Zorro, Garudyne!” Strong, sharp winds were launched towards the Shadow, but were only able to do small scratches to it. The Reaper growled and pointed its weapon towards Mona, but taking its attention off of Apollo was a mistake. More light arrows pierced through its body, one even getting close to its throat. The Reaper roared and started rapidly firing its guns upwards.

Multiple elemental attacks began charging around them. Sky pulled Mona close, and yelled, “Apollo!”

A barrier around them deflected all the attacks, launching them back towards the Reaper. The Shadow howled in pain as its attacks were reflected at full power back at it, destroying one of its arms. It growled once again, its one eye under a sheet glowing in red. Dark energy began surrounding the barrier and pressed at it from all sides.

Sky fell onto his knees as he felt the mental pressure he exerted fail to deflect the magic conjured by the Reaper. He could feel the barrier placed by Apollo getting weaker as time passed. Mona tried to help by trying to gather winds around them, but that wasn’t solving it at all.

The creature growled, pushing harder with its magic.

Sky had one shot to end this. His magic reserves were at its limit, and he wasn’t even sure he could summon Apollo anymore should this fight go on.

The barrier shattered, and Sky felt the dark energy rip and tear into him, leaving deep cuts and burns all across his body. He screamed in agony, falling down when the darkness lifted. Mona let out a panicked sound, running over to Sky’s side to try to heal the other’s wounds. The Reaper didn’t allow this, however, shooting lightning at Mona’s feet, keeping him in place.

“Sky!” he yelled in panic.

The navigator remained face down in the dirt, not seeing the Shadow approach. The Reaper stopped right in front of him, and with a dark growl, raised its revolver straight at Sky’s head. Sky slowly raised his head, staring down the barrel of the revolver, and grinned.

“Got you, loser.” Multiple blasts of sharp light pierced the monster from behind, shredding its armor and dispelling the Reaper. The Shadow shrieked, turning to dust as bright light vaporized it.

Sky slumped down once no trace of the Reaper was left, Apollo vanishing from a distance away. Mona immediately rushed to his side, healing his heavy wounds.

“Sky! That was reckless as all hell! Did you really just take the hit so the Reaper would lower its guard?!” Mona nagged, while Sky grinned, giving the cat a thumbs up.

Mona groaned, helping Sky to his feet. “You’re the exact same as Joker, I swear.”

Sky chuckled and winced almost immediately. “Well, I don’t know about that. But I’m tired as all hell, so let’s get the fuck out of here.”

~~~

Hikaru had planned to possibly talk to Haru today. His wounds were mostly recovered, with still a few aches and bruises here and there, but that was it, really. He was wondering about Haru more, anyway. It’s been a few days since her Awakening, and he wanted to know if she was doing fine.

He opened the door to the rooftop, seeing his senpai dressed in the school PE uniform carrying heavy bags of fertilizer around. Haru turned at hearing the door open, face lightening up as she saw Hikaru emerge.

“Oh, Hikaru! Help me out, why don’t you?” Hikaru hummed, moving over to carry the remaining bags of fertilizer over to where Haru indicated in one go. Haru let out an impressed whistle, slapping Hikaru’s arm.

“You did work out, look at you carrying three whole bags of fertilizer all in one go!” Hikaru groaned, dropping all of the bags on top of the one Haru had moved earlier, collapsing onto it with a scowl.

“I’m never helping you ever again.”

“You know you’re lying down on cow dung, right?”

Hikaru rolled off of the pile, landing on the rooftop floor, staring up into the blue sky. Haru cut open a small hole in the bag of fertilizer and dumped some of it into the few planters she had laying on the roof.

“So how has Phantom Thievery been?” Hikaru asked. Haru hummed, thinking of a response while she patted the fertilizer around the seed she planted.

“Well, it’s been interesting. I tried using a battle axe and found it to be really fun! It’s almost like playing baseball!” Haru clapped her hands in excitement.

“Uhh…how, exactly?” Hikaru asked, slightly concerned.

“You know, you just hit the thing when it comes close, and if you hit it far off enough, that’s a home run!”

Hikaru shuddered, wondering exactly what he had unleashed upon the Phantom Thieves. “Just a bit sadistic there, don’t you think?”

“Oh, you think so? Akira had said that it was charming in a way…”

“Akira’s a kinky bitch who likes that kind of thing. Of course he’s going to like it.”

Haru hummed, gathering another small mound of fertilizer for the next plant. She gave Hikaru laying next to her a quick glance. “Why aren’t you joining us? The Thieves were wondering. They said that you were a core member of them, so why haven’t you joined? You’re not that busy, are you?”

Hikaru hummed, closing his eyes. He scanned his surroundings and sighed when he saw the two readings by the door.

“There’s something that I have to do myself, Haru. I need you to trust me when I say that this is a lot more bigger than what the Thieves are dealing with, so I need to make sure I do this right. If I don’t, all of us will be in danger.”

Haru continued asking, either ignoring or not noticing the two behind the door. “But shouldn’t you tell the Phantom Thieves what’s bothering you? We could help, you know.”

“I sure would love to, but this involves the Thieves, which is why I can’t tell you all. With this kind of secret, the fewer people know, the better. If more people know, the chances of it failing increases. Like, for example, if Akira and Makoto over there knew, they would be playing with fire.”

The door opened, revealing the two leaders of the Phantom Thieves, both with hardened expressions.

“I’m sorry that I can’t trust my boyfriend when he’s obviously hiding secrets and lying to me. You told me that it was something small, that it was just an inconvenience. If it’s something that big, why don’t you tell us?” Each word Akira growled out pierced Hikaru in the heart. It was true, which was why it hurt so much more.

“Hikaru, can’t you come clean to us? We want to help you, you know? I told you this before, but you don’t have to do everything alone anymore.” Hikaru bit his lip, trying to keep his emotions inside. He slowly got up, and facing away from Akira and Makoto, he looked out from the railing surrounding the edge of the rooftop.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. It’s not a personal problem, but one bigger than we all think it is. I wish I could tell you the truth, you have no idea how much I want to, especially you, Akira.” Hikaru looked back, and both Akira and Makoto froze at the tears in Hikaru’s eyes.

“I can’t be around you for a reason, so I was avoiding you. I’m sorry. I’ll apologize as much as you want after this is all done, if you’ll even take me back at that point. If you don’t, I don’t blame you. But, I’m begging you, trust me when I say that you knowing will only hurt you more.”

“Hikaru…” Akira muttered, slowly reaching a hand out. Hikaru shook his head. His hand fell back to his side, and a conflicted expression grew on his face. A part of him was saying to trust the one he loved.

_He is the one who saved you all this time, what’s proving that he won’t?_

_Shouldn’t you offer the first round of trust? You know he has trust issues._

But just as loud, another side of him was arguing the opposite.

_If he loved you, why didn’t he tell you everything properly?_

_You offered him that trust, he was the one who broke it first by lying to you._

_Who is he to know what’s best for you? Why not let you decide for yourself?_

The darker side won out. Akira’s face hardened, and Hikaru felt another part of his heart shatter.

“I’m sorry, but with how things are, I don’t know if I can trust you anymore.”

Hikaru looked back out into the sky, suppressing his tears. “…That’s fair. Then just let me tell you one last thing.” The heir sat on the railing, turning back one last time. He gave them a happy smile, a contrast to the tears flowing down his cheeks.

“I love you, Akira Kurusu.”

He leaned back, falling off the roof. The three students present let out panicked cries, all of them running to the railing and looking down. When they looked, however, there was no sign that Hikaru had actually fallen. It was as if he vanished into thin air.

“Where did he…?” Makoto gasped out, red eyes wide in shock.

Akira couldn’t stop the sense of unease in his gut, as if he made an irreparable mistake. Did he mess that up?

~~~

Meanwhile, in the Metaverse, Hikaru cried loudly, now once again all alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhh...I can explain?
> 
> Also, should I include stats for Hikaru or no? He's in combat now, and got a huge power buff. If you guys want it, I can add it. Or maybe I should just include the spells he use and what they do, since I made them up. Just let me know what you guys want.


	33. Brink of Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how I tagged that some chapters will have messed up shit? Yeah, it's this chapter.
> 
> TW: blood, gore, torture, hella graphic. If you're uncomfortable with that, Just skip the part from "Hikaru slowly opened his eyes" to "Ryuji gently hoisted Hikaru onto his back,".

**_Phantom of the Opera_ **

**_AK:_ ** _I think we’re good to send the calling card_

**_HO:_ ** _So this step is necessary?_

**_YK:_ ** _It allows the Treasure to materialize, since the owner realizes that their heart is, indeed, an item that can be stolen. That would allow us to steal their desires._

**_HO:_ ** _Interesting…_

**_RS:_ ** _how’re we going to deliver it tho_

**_RS:_ ** _don’t think we can do the madarame thing again_

**_HO:_ ** _I could say that I found it in the mail or leave it on the desk and say I know nothing about it. He won’t suspect me at all._

**_AT:_ ** _how about hikaru…_

**_AK:_ ** _If he doesn’t show, then we can’t do anything about it_

**_AK:_ ** _we don’t have time to wait_

**_AK:_ ** _haru’s deadline is coming up, and we can’t just twiddle our thumbs and wait for him to do whatever the hell hes doing_

**_MN:_ ** _…Are you alright, Akira?_

**_AK:_ ** _no, im not, and i don’t know what the fuck im supposed to do_

**_AK:_ ** _i haven’t talked to my boyfriend in days, and the one time i do i fuck it up and probably broke his heart while im at it because im an idiot_

**_AK:_ ** _i don’t fucking know what to do, and we have to deal with okumura on top of that_

**_RS:_ ** _bro im coming over_

**_AK:_ ** _please_

**_AT:_ ** _wait you talked to hikaru?_

**_MN:_ ** _We did. It went…not as great as you would think it did._

**_MN:_ ** _To sum it up, he and Akira had an argument that ended with Hikaru jumping off the school roof and disappearing._

**_AT:_ ** _gonna need some context to that_

**_MN:_ ** _Me and Akira wanted to talk to Haru about her equipment. We headed up there but heard her talking to someone. We could hear Hikaru’s voice, so we just stayed silent hoping he wouldn’t find us and that Haru might be able to get info that he couldn’t, since he did recommend her to become a Thief._

**_MN:_ ** _Hikaru, however, found us easily without even looking in our direction, and proceeded to tell Haru that what he had to do was something bigger than what we all think, and that it would hurt us to tell us._

**_MN:_ ** _We obviously tried to convince him otherwise, since it must’ve been stressful for him to be keeping it in for so long, but Akira kind of cracked under the pressure, making some passive-aggressive jabs at him._

**_MN:_ ** _Hikaru didn’t argue, stating that what he is doing is indeed wrong, and that if Akira wanted to leave him, he would be fine with it. He just asked that we trust him, and that what he knew wasn’t going to be good, and that it would be less painful if we didn’t know._

**_AK:_ ** _at that point I fucking snapped and told him no like some idiot. he looked so betrayed by that but just told me alright and that he loved me._

**_MN:_ ** _He then jumped off the roof, and when we went to see if he was okay, he was gone._

**_RS:_ ** _that’s…kinda fucked_

**_AT:_ ** _yea, no kidding…_

**_AK:_ ** _i don’t even know if im at fault here or is hikaru being the piece of shit anymore_

**_AK:_ ** _everything feels so jumbled up_

**_FS:_ ** _woah what happened_

**_AT:_ ** _read back_

**_FS:_ ** _gimme a sec_

**_FS:_ ** _holy shit are u ok akira_

**_AK:_ ** _no_

**_FS:_ ** _do you need me to come over_

**_AK:_ ** _its fine ryujis coming over_

**_RS:_ ** _im here with food open up_

_~~~_

**_PM: FS - > HA_ **

**_FS:_ ** _akiras really messed up_

**_HA:_ ** _I know. I’m in the group chat as well._

**_FS:_ ** _you’re not okay as well_

**_HA:_ ** _how can I be_

**_HA:_ ** _i was told by the person i love that they cant trust me futaba_

**_HA:_ ** _ive been barely sleeping these past few days_

**_FS:_ ** _uh im bad at this comforting thing shit_

**_HA:_ ** _don’t stress yourself ill be fine_

**_HA:_ ** _just give me a while to figure everything out_

**_HA:_ ** _ill be fine hopefully_

**_FS:_ ** _that’s not exactly reassuring_

**_HA:_ ** _that’s the best i can give you_

**_FS:_ ** _but i can offer distractions_

**_FS:_ ** _wanna play some league or something_

**_FS:_ ** _i can support_

**_HA:_ ** _you never play support_

**_HA:_ ** _i thought you said it was a role for pussies who cant carry_

**_FS:_ ** _im trying dumb shit bot lane and you’re coming with me_

**_HA:_ ** _just gimme a sec then_

_~~~_

Hikaru felt slightly better after playing a game or two, but the guilt was definitely still there. However, he had no time to dwell on it. He needed to rest properly, or it would be hard for him to follow the Thieves along on the final heist in Okumura’s Palace.

“The plan was that in two days, we’ll head in. That alright with you?” Futaba asked in their voice channel.

“I’ll figure it out. I won’t be able to help, but if it comes down I’ll do something. Just keep going as if I haven’t been there.”

“Roger, captain.”

Hikaru thought about his plan. If the calling card was getting sent tomorrow, then he would need to do an equipment check. Well, maybe that wasn’t necessary, since he did get those new knives just the other day. Plus, he might run into Akira, and that was going to be awkward as all hell.

“Hikaru, what the fuck?! Stop daydreaming, the jungler’s coming for a gank!”

Hikaru grinned. At least there was some semblance of normalcy. He placed a ward and waited for the enemy to come to him.

“Let him come, we’ll destroy him.”

~~~

Sky followed the Thieves in, remaining at his perch while they rushed from below. They wasted time, slipping into their regular defensive position, but instead of Sky in the middle, it was Oracle.

“Readings are a bit rough, we’ll have to bust our way forward!” The Thieves answered in the affirmative, quickly rotating positions. The front line consisted of their heavy hitters, while the healers stayed towards the back.

“The time limit is so annoying!” Skull cursed, smashing his pipe into a Shadow before it could even form, dissipating it.

“We have to hurry, or Okumura will just ditch this place!” They climbed the stairs towards the spaceship’s platform, stopping once they got a glimpse of Okumura. The Shadow had his back turned, about to get on the ship.

Of course, this soon devolved into combat. As usual. Sky had stopped paying attention as soon as Okumura opened his mouth, focusing on something else instead. Or rather, someone else.

Akechi had perched himself on the ledge above the entrance to the area, away from view. He hadn’t noticed Sky who was watching from on top of the ship itself. He watched the battle with eager eyes, but made no move to interrupt the fight between Okumura, or, well, his robots, and the Phantom Thieves. He only watched with a silent grin, hand resting on his holstered pistol.

Sky watched carefully, preparing his rifle and aiming at Akechi. As soon as he made any move to interfere, Sky will do the same.

The battle continued while Akechi and Sky stayed in their stalemate. The navigator could hear the loud clashing of metal on metal, as well as the different elements being used to shred the metallic parts of the robots. It was a no brainer as to who would win, even with the large executive robot he brought out to the end. And the tragic thing is, the Shadow itself could barely take a hit.

The throne Okumura sat on crashed into the ground, bursting into flames. With the Phantom Thieves’ guns pointed to him, he seemed to realize that the battle, as well as his dreams of political power, were over. He surrendered easily, all things considered, and the Treasure was taken.

The Palace shook, but Akechi still didn’t move, and stayed there, waiting. Sky adjusted his grip but stayed still.

“We need to get out of here!” Joker yelled in a panic as the station began crumbling.

“But, Father…!” Noir exclaimed, looking at the slumped figure of her father’s Shadow.

“He’ll be fine! Now, we need to get out of here before we’re not!” Mona yowled, dodging another piece of rock that fell. They all shuffled out, and that’s when Akechi made his move. He slowly approached the collapsed Shadow Okumura and raised his pistol.

A bullet hits his hand, knocking the pistol far away. The detective growled, looking to where the bullet came from.

Sky leaped down from the spaceship, slinging his rifle onto his back. “Wonder when the hell you were going to make a move.”

“You’re…Aozora?!” Akechi moved further back, growling out curses under his breath.

“I don’t have time for you! Loki!” The Persona formed at his master’s command, swinging his sword in Sky’s direction. The navigator dodged it, summoning his Persona as well.

“Apollo, Solar Flare!” Arrows of light shot towards Akechi, who couldn’t move out of the way in time. Two arrows pierced his shoulder and one more in his thigh. However, he didn’t seem to be that affected, jumping back to grab his gun. He pointed it at Sky and fired rapidly.

Sky ran along the platform, drawing Akechi’s fire away from Okumura. He needed the Shadow to return to his body, and quickly. Any more and he couldn’t guarantee Okumura’s safety or his own. Sky clicked his tongue, flinging two throwing knives in Akechi’s direction.

The detective accurately shot them, sending them off course and skidding on the metal floor. He then fired once again at Sky, but cursed when the gun made a clicking noise. Sky, with a grin, pulled out another knife and threw it.

“Don’t think that you’re safe yet, fool!” Loki re-emerged, this time charging a strong Curse attack that the knife bounced off of. Apollo fired a beam of light in retaliation, the two elements clashing brightly in the middle of the platform.

“Descend into madness!” Loki prepared a dark beam and fired it straight at Sky. The navigator barely dodged it, but it seemed to leave no impact on the metal floor. That was weird, but he couldn’t stay and wonder about it. He turned to look, and thankfully, Okumura was beginning to fade.

“No!” Akechi bellowed, throwing his sword towards Okumura. Sky couldn’t react in time with Loki’s constant attacks, and could only watch as the sword pierced the Shadow’s stomach, but didn’t kill it before it vanished in a bright light. He let out a huge sigh of relief. At least, that should be fine, right?

Akechi turned his rage towards Sky, anger and hatred in his voice. “You imbecile! Look at what you’ve done!”

“Stopped you from murdering yet another person? Pretty good, I would say.” Sky couldn’t stop the satisfied grin on his face. It felt good that something’s finally going right in his life.

“Loki, end his life!” Loki’s sword swung a dangerous arc, aiming for Sky’s head, but Apollo deflected it with his bow, the sword skidding off of it above its intended target.

“Well, I have no reason to be here anymore, so I’m out. Apollo!” A bright light shined from Apollo, blinding Akechi’s vision. The detective growled, raising his hands to block the bright light. When the light died down, there was no trace of Sky left. Akechi screamed in frustration as the space station continued collapsing around him.

“Aozora!!”

~~~

Hikaru made it out of the Palace just in time as the entrance behind him collapsed. He wasn’t in the clear yet, though. He quickly got out of the area, not wanting Akechi to catch him in the real world, where he would easily be able to detain him.

But that feeling of stopping Akechi felt good. It felt like the one positive thing that has happened in the past few days full of negativity. There were results happening, and he was stronger. He could stop Akechi on his own, and he could kill the Reaper with some help. It definitely gave Hikaru a stronger sense of self-worth.

Now, it was just time to wait for the change of heart.

Hikaru was so wrapped in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the shadow right behind him. A cloth was pressed against his face, and Hikaru felt his instincts go wild. He immediately tried to pull off the hand holding it down, but it was too late. He had already breathed in the chloroform, and he felt his vision getting fuzzier.

“You little rat, I’ll see that you have the worst torture of your life…” Akechi’s voice growled into his ear. Did no one notice what was happening? Any sense of urgency began fading as darkness overtook his vision.

_“Akira…I’m sorry.”_

Akechi felt the heir go lifeless in his arms and smirked. At least that was one thing taken care of. Now, those Phantom Thieves…

~~~

_“Breaking news. Hikaru Aozora, the heir of the Aozora Media Works, has been declared missing as of this time. Police have been sent out to perform a countrywide search, and there have been reports of possible SIU units sent out to track the young heir. Our condolences to Aozora-san, who must be distraught at losing his only son. On other news…”_

_~~~_

Hikaru slowly opened his eyes. His neck was sore, his entire body aching. However, he quickly noted his surroundings. It was a large, dark room, almost like the storage area of a warehouse, or possibly a basement of some kind. Either way, there were no windows or any source of light, leaving the room cloaked in darkness. It didn’t matter to Hikaru, however, who had senses far beyond that of a normal human.

He was tied to a chair, hands bound behind the back. His feet were also tied up against the chair’s legs, leaving him with no way of moving.

“Oh, are you awake? It’s been almost a day, you know.” Hikaru looked to his right, into the darkness. Standing there was Goro Akechi, his crimson eyes gleaming with a cruel light. In his hands was a pocketknife which he had been idly flipping while waiting for Hikaru to wake up.

Hikaru remained silent, closing his eyes to let out a shaky breath. He needed to try something, anything.

_“Futaba, you there?”_

_Hikaru! Where have you been? The news announced you as officially missing, and everyone was kind of panicking! I’m with the rest of the Thieves, we were just planning on what to do about you._

_“Great. I don’t really know if you want to watch what’s happening to me, well, going to happen. But if you could come rescue me, that would be great. I’ll send you coordinates.”_

_You don’t sound very panicked for someone who is kidnapped._

_“Oh, believe me, I’m panicking. There’s a psychopath in the room with a knife. If you come too late, I might be dead.”_

_Wait, what?! We’re on our way right now!_

“Do you know how much trouble you’re going to cause me by saving Okumura?” Akechi stepped closer, hands playing with the knife. Once he was close enough, He rested the edge of the knife against Hikaru’s throat, pressing slightly with enough pressure to draw a small trace of blood. “He’s not going to be happy knowing that I failed, you know.”

Hikaru stared defiantly but said nothing. That seemed to piss Akechi off even more. The detective growled, stabbing the knife into Hikaru’s right shoulder. The heir’s face contorted with pain as he grunted, biting his lip as he felt Akechi press the knife further in until it couldn’t move any further.

“I’m so close, Aozora. So fucking close to getting my revenge on my shitty excuse for a father and you have to pull stunts like this to regress my work. What the fuck is wrong with you?” Akechi yanked the knife out as blood began pooling by Hikaru’s shoulder, staining the orange hoodie he wore a crimson red. Hikaru groaned, panting slightly as Akechi chuckled.

Hikaru couldn’t feel the entirety of his right arm, all feeling within it gone as soon as Akechi had stabbed the knife into his shoulder. He might’ve severed the nerves in there, and it would be pretty hard for that to heal in the real world. He would have to jump back into the Metaverse to heal anything that broke.

He still said nothing as Akechi glared at him, flicking his blood off of the knife. He stabbed the knife into Hikaru’s left leg this time, where he had shot Akechi with Apollo’s arrow. This time, the heir let a small whimper slip out of his mouth, Akechi grinning as he heard the pitiful noise Hikaru made. He pulled the knife downwards until the wound was a few centimeters long. Hikaru moaned in pain, hands clutched into painful fists.

Akechi gently lifted Hikaru’s head up, a mocking grin on his face. The heir weakly glared, feeling his head lighten with how much blood he had lost through the deep stab in his shoulder. “What a sad way to go, with no one to hear your pathetic noises. Maybe now your idiotic father will finally listen to Shido-san.”

A defiant smile grew on Hikaru’s face. “…Eat shit, loser,” he croaked out.

Akechi’s eyes narrowed. He punched Hikaru in the face with a growl. The heir’s face snapped back against the chair, almost knocking him over. Hikaru chuckled, which caused him to immediately cough.

“I’ll fucking kill you, you fucking bastard!”

Akechi pulled the knife out and stabbed Hikaru one more time in the stomach. Hikaru coughed out a splash of blood, eyes widening as the pain took over his rational mind. He once again weakly tried to struggle, but his bonds were tight, and there was no way Akechi would just let him go like that.

Hikaru was bleeding from so many places that he was barely conscious. He could feel a panicking presence in his mind as Apollo tried to heal the injuries as much as he could in the real world, but that only amounted to stopping the bleeding in some places and half-done patching up. It was hard to channel the full effectiveness of healing abilities into the real world, after all. He felt his head droop as he lost the strength to even sit up straight.

“What a tragedy, indeed. With this, comes the end of the Aozora. Honestly, I wanted to drag this out a bit, but I don’t have any healing spells, and I’m really impatient. So, whoops, I guess.” Akechi grinned evilly, a gloved hand admiring the wounds he had made on the heir’s body. “Maybe I should just give you a bunch of cuts everywhere, huh? That’ll drive in the point for everyone else.”

He pulled out the knife and began swinging wildly. All of those made surface level wounds, but still hurt like all hell. Hikaru didn’t know when he started screaming, but by the end of it, his body was riddled with cuts and slices, his throat hoarse. His clothes were shredded, and no skin could be seen underneath the veil of blood. He was bleeding way too much, from way too many places. He has no idea how he wasn’t dead yet. Everything turned fuzzy and unfocused, and he could feel a distant ringing in his ears.

Akechi’s grin turned manic. “Yes, that’s right, cry out like the pathetic vermin you are! Know your place, you insolent fool! Die for your sins!”

With one final slash down Hikaru’s chest, he flung the heir’s blood off of his knife. His phone rang, and Akechi answered with a grimace on his face. Shadows surrounded his figure, and Akechi was gone, leaving the barely responsive Hikaru bound to a chair, head lowered and blood dripping everywhere, pooling under him.

A loud slam echoed in the room. The door to the warehouse had opened. The lights flickered on a moment later, and the Thieves let out a gasp at seeing Hikaru’s condition.

“Hikaru!” Morgana was the first to rush forward, cutting the ropes tying Hikaru to the chair with practiced gusts of sharp wind. Ryuji was immediately there to catch him, laying him on the ground and being careful to avoid his wounds.

“Taking him to the Metaverse to heal might be the better idea here. Healing magic is a lot more effective in the world of cognition.” Makoto pulled out her phone, and the world around them distorted into the dark background of the Metaverse.

“Come out, Hecate!” The goddess appeared behind Ann, summoned by her call, and bathed Hikaru in soft green light. The multiple cuts that littered his body, as well as the three stab wounds, began to close, but that didn’t solve the issue of blood loss. Basic healing can only close wounds and restore torn muscles and nerves, but not replenish blood. That still was a massive issue.

“How do we restore all the blood lost?!” Makoto asked, looking to Morgana for any ideas.

“I don’t know, we’ve never had an issue with that! Our wounds were always just cuts and burns, not deep gashes enough to bleed us out!” The cat replied, just as panicked as all of them. By the time they took Hikaru to a hospital, it would be too late, seeing his pale face and weakening body.

“We can’t do a blood transfusion here, we don’t even have the equipment for it,” Haru said frantically. None of them had any idea.

Fortunately, they had the god of healing on their side.

Apollo emerged without a command and bathed Hikaru in a golden light. He strummed a soft tune on his lyre as color began making its way back onto Hikaru’s complexion. Everyone let out an exhale, relieved that everything was going to be fine.

“How…I thought healing couldn’t…” Makoto watched with wide eyes.

“That’s…Sun’s Gift, isn’t it?” Everyone turned to Morgana. The Persona nodded, and with a bow, faded in blue flames.

Morgana proceeded to explain. “Apollo is the god of the sun but is also well known for his ability as the god of healing. As a Persona, that power gets strengthened or weakened depending on the public cognition. Because Apollo’s role as the god of healing is still relevant in today’s culture, Hikaru’s Persona is able to perform miraculous feats of recovery that other Personas won’t be able to replicate.”

“Hikaru…” Akira muttered, moving to sit by the head of his unconscious boyfriend. It had hurt him so much to see Hikaru on the edge of life and death, he couldn’t even do anything while he had suffered so much. Every fraction of hate in his mind vanished away, seeing the heir struggle between life and death.

“Vitals are all fine, although he might feel some slight aching here and there, and possibly some numbness since his nerves were cut earlier…” Futaba closed her screen, looking back at Hikaru, “…but he’ll live. Any more later and it would’ve been hard.”

“Shouldn’t we send him to an actual hospital? To make sure that everything is properly healed? We aren’t professionals, after all…” Ann thought out loud, and most agreed, but Makoto shook her head.

“You’re right in that we need a professional opinion, but government property would be dangerous. We’ve seen it, after all, how much influence this upper power has.”

“Take him to Yongen,” Morgana commanded. “The local doctor there is a friend of ours. We can get her to look over Hikaru without leaking anything.” Akira could only numbly nod, still too overwhelmed by everything that happened in the past few days.

Hikaru had declared his love, even though Akira hadn’t trusted him, and went missing. The only time he would get glances of him was in school, but he didn’t even come to school on some days. When he had asked Kawakami, she had said that the heir had called in sick. Then a day after they had stolen Okumura’s heart, Hikaru had been officially declared missing. And on that evening, Futaba received a message from Hikaru, as well as some coordinates. They rushed into the warehouse, and then here they were.

What a rollercoaster.

Ryuji gently hoisted Hikaru onto his back, and they began making their way back to Yongen-Jaya.

~~~

“He seems perfectly fine, but might experience a few aches here and there, and those scars will definitely remain there, most likely. Other than that, the biggest problem here is the knotted mess that is his back. Perfectly fine.”

Everyone let out a sigh of relief at Takemi’s diagnosis. She had just performed a general check-up, but everything was fine. She wasn’t too sure why they needed to send him here anyway. No signs of diseases as well, so what made these kids so worried?

“If you’re still worried, you can leave him here for the night. There’s no one else here, so you don’t have to worry about anyone knowing he’s here,” the doctor as a way to reassure all of them. They all seemed jumpy as hell. It probably had something to do with their ‘activities’, but she didn’t care. That wasn’t her business, and she doesn’t think that she wants to know.

“Now, it’s already quite late. Go home, kids, you have school tomorrow.” They discussed among themselves and left the clinic without many complaints. Takemi sighed, and went back into the examination room.

“Alright, they’re gone. So, may I know why you don’t want to see your friends?”

Hikaru had sat up on the bed, staring idly into the distance.

“Those scars are recent, and I can tell they were made by knife wounds. Only knives can cut deep enough to scar like that, and you have them in non-vital places. I don’t know how they’ve healed so far or how they didn’t cut the nerves right underneath that, but you’ve probably been tortured is my guess.” Takemi moved over to her desk, taking a seat on her office chair.

“That leaves mental scars as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if you started exhibiting symptoms of PTSD, or on extreme, schizophrenia. Most war-hardened veterans do the same, and you’re just a kid. And I know for a fact being around others during the initial period helps a lot more than what people think.”

Hikaru bit his lip, looking down. He knows that Takemi was right, it would be foolish of him to not take proper measures to make sure he recovers properly. But that doesn’t change the fact that he and Akira were still on terrible terms.

“I recently had, I guess you can call it an argument, with Akira. It didn’t really turn out well, and I don’t think talking to him will do any good for both of us, at least in the current situation.” Hikaru responded, curling up and resting his chin on his knees.

“I’m not your therapist, I’m your doctor. But I can tell you that Akira looked the most concerned when they brought you in. You can sleep here for the night, Aozora. Though I can’t guarantee your safety if government officials come knocking in the middle of the night.” Hikaru nodded, and Takemi packed up her stuff and left without another word.

Hikaru laid down on the bed, staring at the white ceiling. What should he do? Hell, he doesn’t even remember what happened past Akechi pulling the knife out of his stomach. A hand moved to ghost over the scarred skin under Ryuji’s hoodie. The blond had left it since Hikaru’s clothes were too bloody and torn to be worn.

He remembered Akechi’s terrifying slasher smile, knife ready to plunge into Hikaru’s body again. It seems like he planned to drag it out for so much longer, and Hikaru was once again thankful that Akechi wasn’t able to do anything more before everyone else showed up.

Hikaru closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He stayed silent and listened. The soft humming of the air conditioner, some idle chatter beyond the door of the clinic, a distant sound in his ears. And if he concentrated, the world lit up. Thoughts from everywhere. Stray cats in the alleys, adults walking back and forth, some teenagers going on evening jogs outside the neighborhood.

Life was going on, as usual, no one noticing anything around them, but focused on their own lives. That was how it was, but why did it suddenly feel so sad?

Hikaru opened his eyes, snapping his focus back to the small examination room. Emotions began welling up in his throat.

He sighed and began singing to himself softly. It was a sad tune, a melancholic song of two lovers split apart, never to return. It was a song of self-sacrifice, a song of tragedy, and a song of hurt. His voice echoed melodically in the small room, and tears began building up in his eyes.

Hikaru missed Akira, he missed him so badly. He just wants to be in his lover’s arms, like how they were in the sleepover, no worries in their minds but each other. He wanted to feel Akira’s warm embrace again, his soft kisses, his morning coffee. He missed everything about Akira.

Hikaru couldn’t stop the tears that flowed as he sobbed openly that night, but these tears were tears of longing, of regret, and most importantly, of love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to drop the stats here, and only update it when something major happens, ok?
> 
> Hikaru: 198 HP, 294 SP  
> Apollo: LVL 68  
>  \- Solar Flare: Severe Bless Damage to one foe. (48 SP)  
>  \- Supernova: Severe Bless Damage to all foes. (54 SP)  
>  \- Sun's Gift: Full heal and stat recover, basically a single target Salvation. (30 SP)  
>  \- Critical Strike: Boost attack to become crit. (Free cost)  
>  \- Spell Master: Half all SP costs (Innate)  
> Next Spell: LVL 72, Hymn of Light (not telling you what that does until it appears because spoilers)
> 
> He's hard-hitting and has a huge SP pool, but I balanced that with HP. He's fragile as all hell. If Hikaru doesn't one-shot, he's basically done. I'll update this when the new spell gets used to explain the ability.


	34. Respite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fallout of what happened.

Hikaru wasn’t sure whether he should head home or not.

Of course, he needed to reassure his father that his one and only son was safe, but returning home means that Akechi will know where he is, and where to find him. He could easily just complete the job that he couldn’t before. The detective had been convinced that Hikaru would be dead, or at least out of commission for a while. If he returned, he would definitely be shown on the news, and Akechi would be able to see that he was perfectly fine, with no visible injuries.

On the other hand, if he remained hidden, it would definitely be helpful in terms of staying hidden. It would also just be safer overall. He could just call home and tell his father his situation, but knowing his father, the CEO would definitely demand Hikaru to return. He was still Hikaru’s father, who had raised him since he was young, through all kinds of attacks and assassinations in his life. It would be normal for Kazuyoshi to want his son close to him during these kinds of situations.

“How’re you feeling?” Takemi opened the door, still dressed in her punk outfit. She went over to the desk, slipping off her leather jacket and putting on her lab coat. “Are you going to head home?”

“…I don’t think so, no. I’d be in danger at home.”

“Then where would you go?”

Hikaru thought to himself. Honestly, if he wanted, he could just go live in a hotel for a while, and go pick up some clothing for the next month or so. It wouldn’t exactly be impossible. He’s filthy rich, after all. Money and resources are the least of the problems here.

“I could just go live on my own for a while. It’s not impossible.” Takemi shrugged.

“Well, it’s your life. Are you leaving without waiting for your friends?” Hikaru hesitated there. He really wanted to, but it would have the opposite effect, especially during these times, what with the whole ‘Yaldabaoth out to get him’ thing going on.

“No, I don’t think so. If they come by, just tell them that I had something to do and that thanks for saving me.” Takemi nodded, and Hikaru was off. He wandered down the streets of Yongen, and decided to call his father first. He’s going to need to pull off one of the greatest feats of humanity and convince Kazuyoshi Aozora to let him stay away from home for a while. Hikaru took a deep breath, calming himself, and dialed his father’s office phone.

 _“Hello? Who is this?”_ his secretary answered.

“Let me talk to my father, Amane-san.” Hikaru braced for the panic he was about to cause.

_“…Young Master?! Are you okay? Do you need someone to come get you?!”_

“I’m fine, but let me talk to my father. I need to discuss with him something private.”

_“…Alright, give me a moment.”_

A muffled echo of rushed footsteps and doors slamming open could be heard through the phone. He heard a rustling noise, and next was his father’s voice.

_“…Hikaru?”_

“…Hi, Dad.”

There was an awkward pause. Hikaru started counting from three in his head.

Three, two, one.

_“Where the hell have you been?! Do you know how worried I was about you?! I come back home from a meeting late and I hear that you haven’t come home yet, so I thought you were out doing something again, but the last train already went, and you didn’t call!”_

Hikaru winced. His father rarely raised his voice, if at all.

“Uh, I can explain…?” He trailed off, waiting for his father’s response.

_“Better be a good one. And I want you home, right now. I need to call the police and tell them to call off the search.”_

“Yeah, about that, can I ask for something really selfish, Dad?”

_“…How selfish are we talking?”_

“Can I stay away from home for a few days?”

Kazuyoshi took another pause, and Hikaru’s foot began bouncing in anticipation and nervousness. He’s asking for a lot, he knows, and his father had every right to decline.

_“Can I ask why I’m not allowed to see my son?”_

It wasn’t a flat out no, so it still could be negotiated. “It’s more the fact that there’s people after me right now, and staying at home would be a terrible idea for me.”

_“Hikaru, you know yourself that the security at home is-”_

“One of the best in the entire country, yes, I know. But if the people after me are part of that defense system?”

_“…Then I need to ask you how the hell did you upset our country’s justice system enough for them to be hunting you.”_

“It’s a long story, but that’s a reason why I need to be off the grid for a while.”

_“A reason? Not the only reason? What the hell is happening, Hikaru?”_

“A lot, Dad, and I need to make sure everything works out fine. But trust me when I say that I’ll be fine. If you want, I promise that I’ll explain everything to you in detail, after everything settles down.”

Another pause. Hikaru prayed in his head to whatever god was listening, hoping that his father would allow him this, just this once.

_“…Fine.”_

Hikaru almost shouted with joy.

_“But let me at least make things easy for you. Go to the Intercontinental and tell them that you’re there for a special day. Say that the sky is looking great today. They’ll understand. Since the defense force is the one after you, it’ll be strange for me to tell them to stop looking, so I’ll give you somewhere to hide.”_

“Wait, you have a secret code in some random hotel?”

_“You’re forgetting who we are, Hikaru. Your grandfather had to hide somewhere when your great-grandfather decided to turn us against the government, you know. That’s why the Intercontinental Group has been involved in most of our projects. Our eyes and ears stretch across the sky. We have help everywhere.”_

“…This is the one time I will say I am grateful for being in this lineage. But thanks, Dad.”

_“Just come back safe. I’ll hold you to that promise, Hikaru.”_

The call ended, and Hikaru felt giddy. His father was on his side, and he might be able to do this. Everything was working his way.

Things were looking up.

~~~

Hikaru entered the Intercontinental Hotel, hood covering most of his features. He walked straight to the reception, ignoring the strange looks he got from some of the tourists and staff in the lobby. The family next to him looked at him strangely but continued with their check-in.

“Hello, and welcome to the Intercontinental Hotel. How may I help you today, sir?” The receptionist greeted, looking at him with a retail smile.

“I’m here for a special day.” The receptionist’s expression immediately hardened, but her smile didn’t drop. She nodded and began typing something on her desktop. She looked back up in a moment, eyes shining with a secret.

“Alright, and how has your day been, sir?”

“It’s fine. The sky is looking great today.” The woman behind the counter gave a slight nod.

“We have been expecting you. Just a moment, sir.”

She went into the back, and emerged a few moments later, a set of key cards in her hand. She placed it on the counter, as well as a small letter with a red seal. Hikaru pocketed both of them.

“May I ask if you know how long you plan to be staying?”

“At least a month, but most likely longer.”

“Very well. Your room is the penthouse suite, on the top floor. We hope you enjoy your stay, Young Master,” the woman said with a bow. Hikaru gave a nod back and headed to the elevators. Once inside, he slipped his hood back and scanned his key card, pressing the button to the top floor, floor 51.

The elevator led directly to the room. It had a modern look, with white walls and a glass wall, giving Hikaru a view of the city. The elevator was at the entrance, where there was a small shoe rack with house slippers available. The floor seemed to be covered in carpet, making it extremely soft and comfortable to walk on.

Hikaru entered and turned on the lights. To his left was a kitchen area, with cupboards filled with pots, pans, and anything else he might need should he feel like cooking. There was also a fridge and freezer stocked with meat and some other fresh ingredients. On the counter itself contained more groceries and perishables. Hikaru did a mini fist pump when he saw some instant coffee among the items. He looked around the kitchen and cheered when he found an electric kettle in the drawer under the counter.

There was also a dining table and a bar counter that looked into the living room, allowing him to eat and watch TV without bringing his food to the living room. Certainly convenient.

Hikaru went back towards the living room, where the large window-wall was. The room was much wider, taller, and had plenty of empty space. There was a comfortable leather sofa lining the wall and a TV across from that. A set of stairs was beside the TV, leading up to above the kitchen. Hikaru slowly went up, looking around as he did.

It was a bedroom, with a desktop computer to the side. The bed was a queen-sized bed, so still too big for him, but Hikaru wasn’t going to complain. By the left wall was a cabinet that gave him space to hang his clothes, or to fold them and store them in the drawers below. By his bed was a nightstand that came with a lamp, a Bluetooth speaker, and a phone charger. Hikaru pulled out his phone, charging it while he continued looking around.

To the right of it was the bathroom, which was quite big as well. It had a jacuzzi tub, a shower, and a stall where there was a toilet. The sink counter was quite big, with common things that you can find in hotel bathrooms to the side: hairdryer, hand soap, extra shampoo and body wash, toothbrush and toothpaste sets, even hair combs.

Once he was done looking around, he went back to the bed and sat on it. It was soft and bouncy, and extremely comfortable. He buried his head in the pillows, letting out a muffled sigh. The room felt quite lonely to the heir, since he was used to having decorations around his room, but this’ll do. Now, he’ll need some clothes.

Speaking of clothes, how was he supposed to wash his clothes?

Well, he’ll figure it out later.

Hikaru pulled out the key cards and letter. Placing the cards on the table next to his bed, Hikaru looked over the letter. There was nothing written on the envelope itself, so he broke the seal and pulled out the letter. It wasn’t a long one.

_We have heard of your arrival and have prepared accordingly. While here, you do not need to worry for your safety, as this hotel will be your shelter from whatever that comes your way. Such is the debt we owe the Aozora in helping us during our darkest, and we shall repay in full. Should you need anything, do not hesitate on calling the reception with the phone at the desk._

_President of Intercontinental Group,_

_Matsumoto Kaneda_

Hikaru slipped the letter back into the envelope, and sat there for a moment, taking a moment to plan his next actions.

First, he would need to get all the necessities. Clothing, for the most part. He would have to run to the closest mall and go shopping for about a week or two’s worth of clothes. But how to hide his identity…

Hikaru had to message a friend.

~~~

**_PM: HA - > AT_ **

**_HA:_ ** _hey ann, you free_

**_AT:_ ** _HIKARU_

**_HA:_ ** _hello it is i_

**_HA:_ ** _i am alive and well_

**_HA:_ ** _thanks to you all_

**_AT:_ ** _why’d you run off again?!_

**_AT:_ ** _akiras getting sad_

**_AT:_ ** _he thinks he fucked up on the rooftop or something, and now he thinks you don’t want to talk to him_

**_HA:_ ** _well tell him to suck it up i said it already that it was my bad and that it wasn’t his fault_

**_HA:_ ** _if hes still blaming himself i cant do anything about that_

**_HA:_ ** _hell he hasn’t even messaged or called me at all_

**_HA:_ ** _but anyway u free_

**_AT:_ ** _uhh we’re in class…?_

**_HA:_ ** _oh yeah, that thing_

**_HA:_ ** _forgot that existed_

**_AT:_ ** _the rumors are going crazy_

**_AT:_ ** _theyre saying that you were kidnapped by some mafia boss or something and holding you as a threat against the Phantom Thieves or some bullshit like that_

**_AT:_ ** _but yea im free after school_

**_AT:_ ** _what’s up??_

**_HA:_ ** _alright after school go grab some contacts and either hair dye or a nice hat_

**_AT:_ ** _???_

**_HA:_ ** _if u want u can bring ryuji too we haven’t hung out in a while also i need to return his hoodie_

**_AT:_ ** _you’re telling me???_

**_AT:_ ** _not to mention you still haven’t told all of us why you didn’t help us at all with okumura’s palace!_

**_HA:_ ** _ill get there_

**_HA:_ ** _but yea grab all that and meet me in the intercontinental hotel lobby_

**_AT:_ ** _wait as in the rich people five star hotel in akiba_

**_HA:_ ** _yes_

**_AT:_ ** _okay I guess_

**_HA:_ ** _thx see ya later_

**_AT:_ ** _wait can i grab akira he really wants to see you_

**_HA:_ ** _no_

**_AT:_ ** _wtf happened between you guys_

**_HA:_ ** _its complicated_

**_HA:_ ** _don’t worry ill fix it after we get through this huge mess_

**_AT:_ ** _you better he’s been moping to me in class_

**_AT:_ ** _ok kawakami’s glaring at me see you in like a few hours_

_~~~_

Ann and Ryuji felt out of place in the lobby of the expensive hotel. It just wasn’t the type of atmosphere that they were used to, and it was obvious to everyone who looked. But to their relief, Hikaru came down from the elevator not long after, waving for them to come along. The two blondes moved to join him in the elevator.

“Why’re we here, Hikaru?” Ryuji asked, scratching the back of his head.

“Because for now, I have to live here.” The elevator opened, and the two visitors gaped at the suite that was Hikaru’s new home.

“You know that day you found me? Akechi was the one who did that.” Both of their faces immediately turned sour and angry. They were always the most expressive of the Thieves.

“That piece of shit did that to you?!” Ryuji growled, forehead scrunching in anger. “That’s just twisted as hell, even for an officer!”

“But the fact doesn’t change that Akechi believes I died yesterday. So we need to take advantage of that. We need to make sure that he doesn’t realize that I’m alive, or at least fully healed at the moment, or he could easily come back and finish the job. So here I am.” Hikaru laid down on the couch, giving them a sideways grin.

“My father thought I had gone missing, and sent out a search warrant. So now, I have the entire police force of Tokyo working to find me. And if they find me, then Akechi will know that I’m fine. So that’s why I’m not going home, where my presence will be made public.” Ann moved to sit next to him, Ryuji on the floor in front of him.

“That’s so messed up…” Ann muttered, a pinch of frustration on her face. “Why the hell do we even have to go through this?!”

“Because when you have power, people want it. So that’s why I asked you to bring all of that today. I just got here this morning, and I need clothes. I obviously can’t just go out like this, I would be found instantly, so we’re doing this instead.” Hikaru grabbed the plastic bag Ann had brought, digging through it to see what his disguise.

“I got you some brown contacts, some glasses, and a cute hat. Should be good enough, right?” Hikaru shrugged. It’ll depend, he guessed. No way to know other than trying it.

Five minutes later, Hikaru emerged from the bathroom. He had styled his hair differently, and his eyes were now a normal brown, gaining nods of approval from his two friends on the couch. The heir grabbed the cute Pokémon-themed hat and black thick-framed glasses, trying them on. Ryuji cracked a smile as Hikaru turned over to look at him. Ann avoided eye contact, her cheeks a light pink.

“Dude, you actually look like those cute nerdy types that girls’ll fall for right now.” Ryuji flipped his phone camera and showed Hikaru his reflection. And wow, he did look like an innocent nerdy student. That means it works.

“Well, then let’s go. I need clothes, man. Your hoodie is comfy and all, but it’s starting to get icky.”

“God, please wash it before you give it to me.”

The three teenagers made their way out of the lobby, idly chatting as they walked over to the nearest department store, which wasn’t that far away, just two blocks away. They had a lot of stores and brands, some of which Ryuji scratched his head at, earning a facepalm from Ann.

Hikaru managed to get some hoodies as well as some comfortable loungewear, seeing as he probably won’t be leaving his room anytime soon for any unneeded reason. He got a button-up shirt and jeans as well just in case he needed them.

“God, this is gross,” the heir had exclaimed once he got a new outfit, switching them out while ripping off the price tag and label. He basically melted in his new hoodie, a content expression on his face as he enjoyed the soft material against his body.

“Hey, isn’t that…” Ryuji pointed at someone. Ann and Hikaru followed his line of vision, and Akira was there, with a kid who looked like a grumpy grade-schooler with a bright red cap and a varsity jacket.

Akira noticed them and waved, approaching them. Hikaru looked away, hoping that Akira wasn’t paying too much attention on him. “Crap!”

“What’s wrong? It’s just Akira. Surely your argument isn’t that bad, right?”

“That’s not it! What do you think he’s going to do, realizing that I invited you two out but not him?!”

Both of them froze, and immediately tried to avoid eye contact, but it was too late.

“Ann, Ryuji! Didn’t expect to see you two here together. And who’s this?” Akira asked, looking over at Hikaru. The heir gave him a shy smile and nodded in greeting, and a small amount of pink grew on Akira’s face. Ann quickly covered.

“Oh, this is our friend from middle school, Naoto Aragami. He’s not from town, and I was just showing him around. Ryuji also knows him, so I asked him to come along as well. Naoto-kun, this is Akira Kurusu, a friend from my class.” Hikaru nodded shyly, internally jaw-dropping at Ann’s ability to straight out lie so easily. Did she take acting classes or something? And Akira didn’t even seem to notice!

“Nice to meet you,” Hikaru greeted, his voice half an octave higher. Apollo was a god of music, and that made his vocal range much more versatile than it ever was. A small blessing, but at this moment, an amazing one.

“Nice to meet you too,” Akira responded with a smile. The kid behind Akira then tugged at his blazer, and the leader of the Phantom Thieves turned around with a sheepish grin. He turned back to the trio with an apologetic smile, scratching the back of his head. “Sorry, but I need to go. It was nice meeting you, Aragami-san!”

And he was gone. Once Akira was out of earshot, Hikaru slowly turned back to Ann, an expression of disbelief on his face. Ann had the same expression, and it seemed like Ryuji did too.

“Did that actually fucking work?” Ryuji asked in pure shock.

“…I think it did. Holy shit. Ann, you’re a fucking genius.”

Ann shook her head. “I don’t know whether I’m just good or Akira’s just terrible at seeing through disguises. I didn’t even do that much…”

“Also, where the hell did Naoto Aragami come from?”

“I have no clue. First name that came to my mind.”

~~~

“Hey, Hikaru?”

“Hmm?” Hikaru hummed inquisitively, taking a sip of the fruit smoothie he bought.

“How did you get a penthouse suite without disguising yourself at all?” Ann asked, biting a mouthful of crepe.

“Oh. Well, do you want the short or long version?” Ryuji turned over, eyebrows raised.

“There’s a long version?” Hikaru nodded, looking at the long line by the pretzel store. He wanted one, but the line was really dissuading him. Should he get some pastries then?

Ann thought for a moment. “Uhh…Short version?”

“Connections.”

“…That’s it?”

“Mhm. Should I line up for pretzels? I really want some, but don’t feel like waiting in line for half an hour…” Hikaru muttered, conflicted. Ryuji grabbed his shoulders and pushed them into the line. The heir made a noise but said nothing else.

“Well, what’s your plan after this? Are you just going to stay in your room?” Ann asked. Hikaru thought to himself for a moment.

First came Okumura’s change of heart. He was pretty sure that it would be broadcasted, so he’d watch that. Then he had no idea, really. He needed to make sure that Akechi wasn’t going to harm him for him to be able to make an appearance again. So, for now, he would just have to stay away from the public eye.

“I guess. I can’t return until Akechi’s no longer a threat, and we have no idea when that would be. Probably once we get through all of this government conspiracy mess. We’ll see the situation after Okumura’s change of heart.”

“Yeah…wait, how’d you know we did it? Did someone tell you or something?” Ryuji asked, giving Hikaru a strange glance. Hikaru gave him a deadpan and pulled out his phone. He opened the chatroom, where the Thieves had discussed sending the calling card.

“Did you forget about this?”

“…No,” Ryuji lied.

“Really?”

“…Maybe.”

Hikaru chuckled. Ann, on the other hand, was pondering about something. “So you read the conversation I had with Akira right after the rooftop thing?”

The heir froze, thinking back to that night. He felt so frustrated and angry that he had just erased the entire text conversation from his head and went to play a few games of League, and then slept it off.

“I did, and I’m not going to lie to you, I couldn’t care less at that point in time.” Hikaru thanked whatever gods that they reached the front of the line, facing the cashier and ordering two pretzels for later. Ann and Ryuji sensed that the conversation had come to an end, and looked at each other, slightly worried looks on their faces.

“Also, you two want anything?”

Well, at least they were easily distracted.

With that, the shopping trip came to an end. Ryuji and Ann agreed to walk Hikaru back to the hotel.

“By the way, Haru invited us to Destinyland tomorrow, and she said that we could watch the press conference there together. Are you going to come?” Ann asked, but Hikaru shook his head. There was no point in him being there, but it was nice that they offered.

“I would love to, but I’m currently wanted by the country as a missing person. Once all of this dies down somewhat, then maybe I can risk going out for a while, maybe as Naoto Aragami,” Hikaru responded, giving a smirk towards Ann. The girl rolled her eyes, smiling.

“Look, it worked, didn’t it?” Hikaru snorted.

“By some miracle, yeah.” Ryuji chuckled at that. They soon arrived at the entrance of the hotel, and the two blonds said their goodbyes. Hikaru handed Ryuji his hoodie before he left and went back into his room.

~~~

Hikaru got back and dropped the shopping bags in his hands onto the couch, and the snacks on the kitchen table. He was starting to get hungry, so he decided to order dinner first, and then figure out what to do later.

He had looked at the room service menu and decided to get something simple: a grilled chicken chop with fries. It was a normal dish for hotels, seeing as they always have an international menu to cater to different people from different places in the world.

Hikaru went over to the desk, grabbing the phone and dialing the number for the reception.

“Good evening, Young Master. How may I help you?” Hikaru recognized the voice as the same receptionist who was at the counter when he came in today. Interesting, he noted to himself.

“Hi, can I get a grilled chicken chop with fries for dinner?” Hikaru ordered, looking at the price written on the menu. Hell, 3500 yen for a chicken chop? Talk about high class.

“Certainly. Would you like any drinks to go with that?”

“Uhh…how about some orange soda?”

“Of course. Your food will arrive shortly.” She ended the call.

Hikaru hummed, adjusting his glasses. He’s starting to get attached, really. It felt awkward at first, but after the whole day wearing them, it became a comfortable weight on his face. It sort of reminded him of his goggles in the Metaverse, so he’s been walking around his room without taking them off. He ditched the contacts as those started to annoy his eyes, but the glasses were definitely nice. The lenses didn’t have any power in them, so it was purely for style.

“Now, what do I do…” Hikaru wondered to himself. He should probably take a shower. He hasn’t showered for the whole day, and he got stabbed and all that mess yesterday. The last time he got a proper shower was probably before they stole Okumura’s heart, and that was…two days ago? Three? God, how did he not notice how bad he smelt?

Hikaru laid out a set of comfortable clothing and headed into the bathroom. He looked over at the jacuzzi tub, considering his options. Nah, he thought to himself, too much prep time. The heir grabbed a towel and laid it by the sink, undressed and slipped into the shower.

He let out a sigh of relief as the warm water ran down his body. It’s been so long since he had a proper shower, and his body just naturally relaxed as he tried scrubbing off the traces of dirt and grime all over him. It felt amazing.

Hikaru took this time to thoroughly inspect his wounds. He could feel the scarred skin on his right shoulder, right above his armpit. A thick patch of reddened skin ran to the edge of his collarbone. The one on his thigh ran from mid-thigh all the way to above his knee, and the one on his torso ran from the right side of his body, beside his waist, all the way to just next to his belly button.

Hikaru sighed, gently touching the damaged skin. Even with Apollo’s healing, real-world injuries were not that easy to heal. Attacks within the Metaverse usually didn’t even leave any scars at all, no matter how bad the injury, as long as it was healed properly before leaving the Palace. Hikaru grabbed the soap and shampoo and quickly washed himself properly.

“Well, it isn’t too bad…” Hikaru said to himself as he came out of the washroom, looking at his reflection in the mirror. The scars were slightly redder than his normal skin tone but otherwise didn’t look too different.

Getting out of the bathroom, Hikaru put on the clothes he laid out earlier, as well as the glasses. Just in time, the bell by the entrance rung. Hikaru went down the stairs to see a waiter enter with a bow, a small cart behind him. “Excuse me, I’m here to deliver your dinner. Where may I leave it?”

“Oh, on the table is fine,” Hikaru replied. The waiter bowed, pushing the cart over to the dining table and taking out Hikaru’s order to place on the table. Once he had set up everything, including utensils, he reached into his pocket.

“A letter for you has arrived earlier, while you were out.” Hikaru looked at it in interest, taking it from the waiter’s hands. Bowing once more, the waiter pushed the cart towards the elevator.

“Then, enjoy your meal, Young Master. Feel free to call the reception once again when you are finished, and we will come to clear the dishes and utensils.” The elevator arrived with a ding. The waiter gave Hikaru a friendly wave and a smile as the door closed.

Hikaru sat down at the table and sliced a small part off, taking a bite. He hummed in approval. It was quite good. There was some skin on it, it wasn’t burnt, and the marinade wasn’t too salty or tasteless. The fries were also fried well, not too crispy and not too soft.

While eating, Hikaru took a look at the letter the waiter passed him. Once again, there was no writing on the envelope itself. Hikaru opened it, pulling out the letter inside.

_Hikaru,_

_I hope you’re safe. I had to delete your contact and number from my phone, which has been taken to be inspected. I asked all of the staff with your number to do the same. The police wanted to know if you had contacted me at all before the disappearance but asked for my phone when I said no. I can’t exactly say no, since that would be suspicious. Luckily, you contacted me before all of this happened. Don’t try to call me or contact me through your phone at all. If you get a message from me, it’s not me. I’ll send you a letter again if I get my phone back._

_I tried to erase all traces of your number, but it might be a good idea for you to change numbers if you can or encrypt your number. They won’t suspect you living at the Intercontinental, so you don’t have to worry, but you might want to look out for others spotting you and possibly calling the authorities. Put on a disguise when you go out, at least. I hope you remember your promise._

_Kazuyoshi Aozora_

Hikaru exhaled, eating another fry. His eyes glowed a dark blue behind his glasses.

_“Futaba, can I ask you something?”_

_Sure. What’s up?_

_“My number’s encrypted, right?”_

_Yep. That’s the case with all of the Phantom Thieves._

_“You’re confident no one will crack it?”_

_Hikaru, who the hell do you think you’re talking to?_

_“Fair enough. That’s all I need, thanks.”_

_Um…ok?_

Hikaru blinked, and the connection cut. He walked over to the TV, turning on with the remote, and moved his food over to the counter, and sitting on a barstool.

_“On today’s news, the missing heir of Aozora Media Works, Hikaru Aozora, still remains unfound. If anyone sees this person, please contact the authorities immediately.”_

On the screen was a picture of him taken during the Okumura event. Hikaru cringed, switching to another news channel. This one was an interview, a host asking a professional about his opinion on certain topics. The man on the other side of the couch seemed to be an older man with greying hair in a suit.

_“What is your opinion, Kanada-san? Would Aozora-san be the kind of person to run away from home?”_

_“Well, the position of heir to a mega-corporation is indeed a stressful one, and Aozora-kun is in his adolescence, so if he did, I don’t blame him. This is but a normal response for someone his age.”_

Hikaru scoffed. Someone his age? Who the hell does this old geezer think he is? Is this what the news thinks of his disappearance? He can’t blame them, but god, their reasons for why he was gone were totally absurd. Hikaru pulled out his phone and looked on the net for forum posts and other social media.

_Did he really run away from home? Relatable lol_

_why the hell did he run? dude has money_

_didn’t someone say he was kidnapped or something_

_probs just a pr stunt or something_

_did people actually fact check this?_

_How is his father dealing with all of this? Kinda feel bad…_

Seems like most of the public believes that Hikaru had run away, rather than the fact that he was kidnapped or something like that. Well, whatever. The public opinion really didn’t matter as much as they thought. Hikaru finished his meal and chugged the rest of his soda.

The heir went upstairs, turning off the TV on his way. Flopping onto the bed, he reached over to the nightstand, grabbed his phone, and turned on the Bluetooth speaker. He started playing music to fill up the silence in his room.

As the soft and melodic music began playing from the speakers, Hikaru closed his eyes and stretched his powers. The world around him became a dull blue, human presence all highlighted by shades of green. He then realized that he could see everything, and that wasn’t an exaggeration.

Everything on the globe could be projected to him. He was no longer limited in terms of range or people around him. He could see anyone he wanted, no matter where they were, no problem at all. His reach was truly as wide as the sky above.

How funny, he thought to himself, that such power came into his hands. The coincidence is amazing.

He daydreamed for a moment, thinking what would’ve happened had he not got involved in all of this. Would he still be friends with the Phantom Thieves? Would he have been one of those commenters just a moment ago, now talking about the possible consequences the Phantom Thieves would have on the world?

One thing’s for sure, and that’s the fact that he would’ve never been able to be with Akira.

Hikaru still meant what he said on the rooftop. No matter what, his heart still belonged with Akira, even if it might not seem like it. At the end of everything, Hikaru was doing all of this for him, but it was easy to start doubting that, with how Akira acted sometimes.

No, he can’t start now.

Hikaru shook his head, staring at the empty ceiling. He can’t falter, especially when he had made it this far.

The song changed, turning from a cheerful melody into a dark tone, one of tragedy and despair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeet.


	35. Heartbroken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst is fun to write.

Hikaru slumped onto the couch, idly surfing channels to find something interesting to watch.

It’s been a day, and he was already starting to get bored. Usually, he had school to go to, and after that, he would hang out with others and all that. He’d get home around evening to have dinner and do his homework, maybe play games or read, watch some videos for a bit, and then it was time for bed.

Almost the entirety of Hikaru’s normal schedule has been absolutely trashed.

He didn’t need to go to school, so no homework. It was also hard for him to meet up with people, since they would have to come to him, and Hikaru didn’t really like going out when he really didn’t need to. There wasn’t much to read, and he couldn’t really do much other than lounge around and use the computer or watch TV. Hell, he didn’t have a conversation partner.

Well, that could change.

**_PM: HA - > RS_ **

**_HA:_ ** _yo what u doin_

**_RS:_ ** _dude im in class_

**_HA:_ ** _ik but im boredddd_

**_HA:_ ** _you don’t listen in class anyway_

**_RS:_ ** _shut_

**_RS:_ ** _go ask futaba to play league or smth_

**_HA:_ ** _but shes asleep_

**_HA:_ ** _literally just been quarantining myself for the past day and im already bored_

**_RS:_ ** _isn’t that what rich people like to do_

**_RS:_ ** _do the ojousama laugh and drink tea while dissing people on their front lawn all day_

**_HA:_ ** _that’s the dream_

**_RS:_ ** _then whats the prob_

**_HA:_ ** _the country’s defense force is after me and i cant go out without being found and brought home so that akechi can come after me_

**_RS:_ ** _sounds like a you problem_

**_RS:_ ** _now get lost im actually interested in class for once_

**_HA:_ ** _wtf betrayal_

**_RS:_ ** _rip_

**_HA:_ ** _:(_

**_RS:_ ** _this is so sad_

**_HA: :(_ **

**_RS:_ ** _what a tragedy_

**_HA: >:O_ **

**_RS:_ ** _really cant come over tho_

**_RS:_ ** _needa go pick up something for my mom after school_

**_RS:_ ** _and then were goin to destinyland_

**_HA: >:(_ **

**_RS:_ ** _go out and entertain yourself or something_

**_HA:_ ** _but is dangerous_

**_RS:_ ** _then perish_

**_HA:_ ** _guess ill die_

Hikaru dropped his phone, flopping over. He was actually bored out of his mind. Maybe he should actually go out, go take a walk or something. Or maybe head to a park, wander around. He would just have to be careful about others, make sure no one recognizes him.

Well, he was going to die if he stayed in this room any longer.

Hikaru got up and took a shower, slipping on clothes that he usually wouldn’t wear. He put on a graphic tee, and some comfortable jeans, and grabbed the one button-up cotton shirt he got, and tied it around his waist. He made sure to grab the hat as well, stuffing his hair underneath it so that no one can see his hair color.

“Maybe I should go to Inokashira for a while…” Hikaru thought out loud to himself while in the elevator. He hasn’t been to a park since…the day his mother died. Had it really been that long? Well, he never had a reason to, plus he was in quite a bad mental spot for a while…

Well, it wouldn’t be too bad, right?

Hikaru got on the train headed for Inokashira Park. Surprisingly, no one recognized him at all in the station. Some peoples’ heads turned his way but looked away when they met his brown eyes.

Huh. Seems like Ann might be able to take credit for this one.

Hikaru stopped in front of the entrance. It was noon on a weekday, so it was silent. People around his age were at school, middle-aged people were at work, while seniors usually were at home or having lunch somewhere. There would be almost no one at this time.

The heir entered, hands clasped behind his back. He wandered around, just following the path covered by fallen leaves. It was already October, so the leaves of the trees around him had already turned orange, some already wilting. Every time he stepped on some, he could hear a crunching sound under his foot, which, honestly, sounded quite satisfying. Soon, he was skipping around, going out of his way to find curled-up leaves to step on.

This was actually quite therapeutic, with no eyes around him. The park itself was pretty big, with plenty of recreational spaces, so Hikaru slowly wandered through all of them. He went to the zoo, looked at the different sports fields from outside, sat by the pond for a while, plenty. Eventually, he felt a bit hungry, so he walked over to Kichijoji to grab some lunch.

Hikaru’s eyes sparkled when he saw a Big Bang Burger branch. Their CEO and management might be trash, but there’s no denying that whoever’s behind the food recipe is a genius. He hasn’t had a proper Big Bang burger set in a while. He’s craving it at this point.

He left the Big Bang Burger a happy man, his food in a paper bag and a soda in his hands. He wandered back over to the park, heading over towards the large pond, and decided to sit at a bench and eat. It was already about time that school was over, so the park was a bit more crowded with students in uniform, but most just walked by Hikaru without a second glance, talking with their friends or too focused on their own thing.

Of course, there were some that noticed him, but not for the reasons he expected.

_“Hey, isn’t that guy over there kinda cute?”_

_“He’s totally my type…Those glasses and the way he dresses is like, so adorable…”_

_“You should try getting his number. Is he a high school student? I mean, he isn’t wearing a uniform…”_

_“Maybe a college student or something? I don’t know, should I shoot my shot?”_

Hikaru pretended to not hear the whispers coming from a pair of girls sitting at the bench a small distance away from him. He was listening around while he ate, making sure that no one saw through his disguise.

“Oh, aren’t you…” Hikaru looked up and almost choked. Walking up the path was Akira, a curious expression on his face.

“You’re Ryuji and Ann’s friend, aren’t you? Aragami-san, right? We met yesterday at the mall, remember?” Akira said with a friendly smile on his face.

“Oh, you’re Kurusu-kun, right? Nice to see you again.” Hikaru slipped into his Naoto voice, giving Akira a grin and praying in his head that the other had something else to do and that he just came to say hi.

“Same here. I saw you eating here alone, and I was just wondering if I can come sit with you? I usually come here to relax, but it can be lonely sometimes if it’s just me.” Hikaru eyed Akira’s bag, where a bulge was wriggling around. Mona was right there, what the hell does he mean lonely?

“Oh, by all means. I’m not exactly what people call very sociable, though…I don’t know if you’re okay with that.” Hikaru said shyly, in an effort to dissuade Akira.

If only it was that easy.

“Oh, that’s no issue. I’m dating someone who’s a bit introverted as well, so it’s fine, I’m used to it.” Akira plopped down next to him, and Hikaru let out a silent grunt of frustration. The heir decided to stay silent, waiting for Akira to start the conversation. Maybe if he made him feel awkward enough, he would leave.

“So, you were friends with Ann and Ryuji back in middle school, right?” Hikaru hesitantly nodded.

“Well, we were classmates, but I wasn’t, like, super close with them. We did work together on schoolwork occasionally, but other than that, we usually stuck to our own group.”

“How were they like? Were they as loud and chaotic as I think they were?” Akira asked, turning to look at Hikaru in the eyes. He still looked like he suspected nothing, but Hikaru needed to be sure. He closed his eyes and hummed, pretending to reminisce, but instead used his powers to read Akira’s thoughts.

_Ryuji did say that they drifted apart in first year, and that they were quite close in middle school…_

“They were quite loud, which I was kind of uncomfortable with at the start, but it kind of grown onto me. Eventually, I was part of all of that, and looking back now, it was actually quite fun.” Hikaru wasn’t making things up, it was his real experience, just slightly exaggerated.

“Sounds about the same for me, then.” Akira chuckled, and the conversation died down, returning back to the awkward silence.

“…Hey, Aragami-kun, can I ask you something?” Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

“Sure?”

“Just want to know your opinion on something, from a totally outside perspective.” Hikaru could guess what he was going to ask.

“So recently, I kind of…had an argument with my boyfriend? It ended badly, and I think I might’ve fucked up…” Akira started, and Hikaru nodded to show that he was listening.

“I learned that he was keeping something from me, and when I tried to ask him, he just avoided me. He constantly tells me that it’s nothing I should be worried about, but at that point, isn’t that just counterproductive? But he just told me to trust him, and that he will solve it all soon. What would you do in this situation?’ Akira turned to Hikaru, who has been listening silently.

“…Kurusu-kun, I barely know you, isn’t there someone better who would be able to help you?” Hikaru asked, making Akira blush in embarrassment.

“Sorry…”

“It’s fine. But anyway, has this other person ever broke your trust before at all?” Hikaru asked, knowing that he hasn’t.

“No, but…”

“Then I don’t think there’s a problem here. I’m a scientific guy, Kurusu-kun. I believe in the ‘true until proven otherwise’ way of thinking. If we keep thinking about the what-ifs and small details in life, we’ll miss the big picture, which is that life is too short to think about all of that. My opinion, just trust him and go for it. If he breaks your trust, then you know what to do. But if he doesn’t? Then you showed him that you believe in him, and that’s important in a relationship. It’s really that simple.”

“…Huh.” Akira hummed, thinking about what Hikaru had just said.

“But then again, I’m not exactly what people call a relationship guru, far from it. What I know just comes from TV shows and movies…” Hikaru added on, looking away.

“…Well, I needed it anyway. Thanks.” Akira looked pensive, so Hikaru stayed quiet. He gave him time to sort his thoughts.

“…But what if I told him no?” Akira asked, looking off at the pond. On the pond was a swan, swimming gracefully. The area around it was serene, still, almost like time itself stopped just to watch the swan.

“Then you take away the faith in the relationship. Everything will come crashing down. If there’s no trust, then there’s nothing holding it up anymore.” Hikaru closed his eyes, reading Akira’s thoughts. He hated saying it, but it needed to be said.

_But what if he was the one who didn’t trust me? He didn’t want to tell me anything, even the smallest details…_

“It doesn’t matter who started it. Someone has to take the first step. If you can’t trust each other, are you even in a relationship?” Akira’s head snapped towards Hikaru, eyes wide. How did he…

“Your boyfriend might still love you, however. If you’re meant to be together, then you won’t let something like this take you down.” Hikaru concluded, giving Akira a wide smile. Grabbing the rest of his food, he got up.

“Now, I think I have to go. It was nice talking to you. I’ll see you around, Kurusu-kun.” Akira watched silently as Hikaru left. Now that he looked properly, Aragami looked quite similar to Hikaru, almost identically so…

~~~

Hikaru groaned as he got back, flopping onto the couch like he did a few hours ago.

Did he say too much? He might’ve given away his identity without even knowing it. He might’ve let his emotions control him at the moment, and just said what he would’ve said. He fucked up.

Well, whatever. He just needed to make sure to avoid Akira properly now, instead of just wandering around and running into him wherever he went.

Hikaru went into the bathroom, taking off his contacts. It was the middle of the afternoon. He could take a bath in the wonderful jacuzzi tub, relax for a while, and get dinner around seven. The press conference was going to start at eight, so he could watch it then. Now, he was just nervous to see if Okumura made it alright. Probably, right? Akechi’s sword did hit him, but he returned to his real self before he died.

Hikaru turned on the water, letting the tub fill slowly. While it did that, he went over to the fridge downstairs to grab some cold water. He stood there for a moment, mind drifting to space while he sipped the ice-cold water and listened to the rushing of water filling the tub.

He snapped out of it after a few seconds, placing his cup in the sink to wash later. The bath was already filled, so he turned off the water. He grabbed his phone and speaker from the bedroom and went in, placing them on the sink counter. He played some calming music, took off his clothes, and got in.

Hikaru exhaled as he entered, sinking into the warm water with a content expression. He laid his head against the rim of the tub, lying down fully. He let out a soft groan of satisfaction, feeling the day’s exhaustion wash away. Running a wet hand through his messy brown locks, he stared idly at the bathroom ceiling, singing the lyrics to the song in the background.

 _“A river in a dry land, a last ace in a lost hand,”_ he sang idly, hitting the high notes perfectly. With Apollo’s blessing, he could hit notes that even professional vocalists wish they could. It really didn’t help in terms of battle, but hey, maybe he could midnight as a singer in a bar if he got really stressed from the whole Aozora business later down the line.

Speaking of which, Hikaru never really thought that much into what he was going to do in the future. It was heavily assumed that he would take over the family business and continue on the Aozora name, but Hikaru was never actually forced into that role. His father had only mentioned that a handful of times, all without really confirming or denying anything.

It wasn’t like he wasn’t interested in taking over the company. He could, and probably would, but what comes after that is the real issue. Would the Phantom Thieves still be a thing then, or would they have disbanded by then? The plan was to do this as long as they could, but only time would tell how long this can continue.

Hikaru dunked his head into the water.

Emerging with a breath, he swept back his hair, feeling refreshed. Hikaru let out a content hum. He laid down once again, water dripping off his wet hair onto the ground beside the tub.

Raising an arm, he waved a screen into existence, watching the others as they entered Destinyland. Akira looked a bit thoughtful, and Ryuji and Ann seemed excited, but overall, the mood seemed to be a bit down. Hikaru bit his lip, looking away in guilt. He quickly waved the screen away, not wanting to look any further.

Is this distancing really helping anyone? It’s beginning to strain the relationship between him and the Thieves, and distrust will definitely grow. From the small interactions he had with Akira on the roof, and from what everyone had told him, it seemed like Yaldabaoth hasn’t taken control of Akira at all since the one time when they got back from Hawaii.

If anything, won’t the Thieves need him more than ever now, with Akechi closely following them and preparing to kill? Futaba’s navigation was impressive, yes, but Necronomicon pales in comparison to Apollo’s abilities. With Apollo’s improved abilities, they would never have to worry about being anywhere close to Akechi, or a possible ambush, or any possible trap Akechi plans.

Hikaru stayed silent, thinking to himself. He would definitely be risking his life, staying that close to Yaldabaoth, but at this point, did it really matter? As long as some of the Thieves were around, it would be fine, won’t it?

Why was he so scared, anyway?

Hikaru found that he couldn’t answer that question.

The only reason that he would have to stay away from the Thieves right now is Akechi. Akechi knows that Hikaru knows his true identity, but he doesn’t know that the Thieves know as well. If anything, it would allow them to lure him into a trap of their own.

But first, he needed to talk to Akira once and for all.

Hikaru got out of the bath, grabbing a towel and tying it around his waist. Drying his hands, he reached out to grab his phone. He hesitated as he opened the chat app, looking at the contact name.

_Kira_

Hikaru took a deep breath and typed a single sentence.

**_PM: HA - > AK_ **

**_HA:_ ** _meet me at leblanc tomorrow_

Hikaru turned off his phone, feeling a strong nervousness in his stomach. He really needed to apologize properly. At this point, Akira has all the reasons to not take him back, so Hikaru had to convince him otherwise.

Hikaru dried himself off and put on some pyjamas. He was hungry, and the press conference was going to start soon.

~~~

Hikaru flipped over to the news channel as soon as it was around eight. The press conference was going to start soon. He slurped up the rest of his pasta, finishing it and cleaning his mouth.

Cameras began flashing as Okumura entered the room, a resigned expression on his face. He stood at the podium, and with a shaky breath, began to speak.

“Thank you all for coming here so suddenly tonight,” Okumura started.

“I have a statement to make regarding the rumors of abuse and neglect within our management.” Hikaru unconsciously nodded. Everything was going fine, nothing bad yet…

“It is all true. I have cut corners in order to save money multiple times, and these places would include workers’ pays, sanitation, and many others.” Okumura lowered his head in shame as the flashes of cameras go off again.

One reporter’s voice could be heard. “Okumura-san, there were also rumors of you being the sole beneficiary to the mental shutdown cases. Do you know anything about it?

Hikaru held his breath.

“Yes, that is also something I would like to address. Regarding the mental shutdown cases, I…” Okumura’s voice slowed down, eyes turning wide. He then let out a grunt, hands coming around his throat. He slammed his face down onto the table, and yelps of panic were heard from the reporters.

“Okumura-san…?” Someone muttered, fear in their voice.

The man groaned, lifting his head up. Hikaru gasped, seeing the black streaks running down his cheeks, coming from desperate, pleading eyes. His mouth was dripping the same black substance, mixing with his saliva into a black, sticky paste.

Screams of terror erupted from the other side, panic ensuing. There were people running around, lights and cameras falling, and the live video cut out.

Hikaru’s mouth was wide open. He quickly snapped out of it, creating displays of the situation in Destinyland and in the press conference room.

He tried to monitor Okumura’s vitals and breathed a sigh of relief when it seemed like his life was still intact. Apollo’s diagnosis was that it was just the aftereffect of the events in Okumura’s Palace. The man’s health was fine, just that his memories could be possibly altered due to intense trauma to his Shadow.

In Destinyland, everyone seemed panicked. Futaba was having a panic attack, Haru looked close to tears, and everyone else couldn’t take their eyes off the screen. Hikaru needed to intervene right now before the ensuing panic takes over all of them.

_“Futaba!”_

The girl jolted, a moment of clarity in her panic.

_“I need you to calm down! Everyone’s going to panic and do something stupid at this rate. Listen to me carefully, alright?”_

_…Alright._

_“Okumura is fine. His vitals are stable. He’ll make a recovery.”_

_R-Really?! But that was the same as Mom…_

_“Look for yourself.”_

Hikaru sent over the data that Apollo collected.

_“What’s important now is to calm everyone down. Akira and Haru first, then everyone else. I’ll try to see what happens to Okumura, and I’ll update you.”_

_Okay…okay. Yeah._

Hikaru turned back to the conference room. Okumura, who had collapsed, was being taken away by paramedics. From the look of their faces, they believed the worst. Hikaru continued watching as they brought him to a nearby hospital, the doctors quickly rushing in to try to save the man’s life.

They seemed confused as they measured his heart rate and blood pressure. Everything seemed fine. Only mild trauma to his brain, causing mental disarray and possibly loss of memories. They couldn’t explain what the black substance was but knew that it was associated with the mental shutdown cases that were happening around the country.

Okumura seemed to have barely avoided death via mental shutdown.

Turning back to Destinyland, everyone seemed to have calmed down. Haru had just received a call, explaining that her father’s condition seemed to be stable, but there could be slight hiccups in his recent memory. Haru accepted that news happily, slumping down into the metal chair behind her.

Hikaru clicked his tongue. They weren’t in the clear yet.

Online videos of Okumura’s collapse has garnered public attention, and comments were going wild.

_dude wtf is this how people look like when their hearts are stolen_

_yo that’s nightmare fuel…_

_doesn’t that look like a mental shutdown?..._

_wtf this is messed up as hell_

_the phantom thieves do this to people?_

_what the fucking hell?!_

Things were turning against the Phantom Thieves, and fast. Hikaru opened his chat log.

**_PM: HA - > AK_ **

**_HA:_ ** _bring everyone with you, im going to explain what we need to do next to get through this_

**_AK:_ ** _…Alright._

~~~

Sojiro greeted Hikaru as he entered Leblanc, dressed as Naoto Aragami. He grabbed a seat at the counter and gave his normal nod to Sojiro. The man raised an eyebrow, but asked no questions, preparing a cup of coffee without Hikaru saying anything.

Well, Hikaru had his hat off, and his brown hair might be a good enough indicator to people around him as to who he is.

“Where’ve you been, kid? The kids didn’t tell me anything about you showing up,” Sojiro said with a hidden grin.

“Some things popped up, and I’m officially being hunted,” Hikaru responded.

“They’ll be back soon, class is almost over. Futaba’s already upstairs, so you can go talk to her first. I’ll bring your coffee up.”

Hikaru nodded his thanks once again and went upstairs. Futaba turned at his entrance, giving him a wry smile. “Hey, nice seeing you again.”

“Same here. You alright?” Hikaru asked, taking a seat beside her on Akira’s bed.

“…Just a bit shaken, but you helped. I’ll be fine.” Hikaru patted Futaba on the head, making her smile.

“Good job. Things might not have turned out the way it did if you didn’t help me.”

“I doubt that, really, but sure. Boost my ego,” Futaba replied, making Hikaru laugh. “Oh, and the contacts look good.”

The two heard a ring above the door, and the loud footsteps of the Thieves. Hikaru felt a sense of nervousness, but that was quickly stifled when he looked over to Futaba, who gave him a grin.

“You’re here already,” Akira’s voice spoke from the stairs. Hikaru took a deep sigh, and turned to face the Thieves. They were expecting him, but that didn’t stop the look of apprehension on some, and excitement on the others.

“Hey.”

“We need explanations, Hikaru,” Makoto said, approaching and sitting down by the table, placing her bag at the edge of the seat. She was one of the apprehensive ones.

“And you’ll get them. Well, most of them.”

“Most?”

“Most is all I can give right now.”

“Then that’ll do.” With that, the tension seemed to have been reduced somewhat, so everyone moved to take a seat at their usual places.

“Haru, you’ve heard of your father’s condition, right?” Hikaru started, turning over to the heiress. She nodded.

“He’s safe, just experiencing some mild trauma that might distort his memories is what the doctors said. Is this really what happens every time you change hearts…?”

Akira shook his head. “No, this time is different. What happened?” He asked Hikaru, making eye contact. Hikaru didn’t waver.

“Akechi happened.”

The Thieves looked at each other, slightly confused. “Akechi?”

“Akechi was there the day you changed Okumura’s heart. He planned to come in after you all defeated Okumura, killing Shadow and inducing a mental shutdown. I stopped him, but not fully. He managed to stab Okumura right as he was vanishing, but he vanished fully before he died. That seemed to be enough to save his life, at least,” Hikaru explained, recounting the events that happened.

“Wait, you two were there the entire fight?” Makoto asked, wide-eyed.

“I was above the spaceship, Akechi was by the ledge above the entrance. I expected him to use this chance to get all of you, but he seemed to want to induce the mental shutdown instead.” Makoto returned to her thoughts.

“Then I should properly thank you.” Haru got up and bowed deeply to Hikaru, who looked at her curiously.

“Thank you for saving my father’s life. I suspected something like this was happening, especially when I noticed flashes of light in my peripheral. The others had told me your Persona used light as its primary element, so I thought it was you.” Haru said with a shy smile. Hikaru shook his head, a hand coming to rest on Haru’s shoulder.

“I should be surprised that you saw me. Almost no one else did.”

“I have been training on my Psychokinetic abilities, so that led to me being more aware of my surroundings due to the innate magic that flows from Persona users. But I still had no idea you two were there in the final battle, so I suppose that I need to train more.” Haru’s hand came up to twirl a strand of hair, looking away. She went back to her seat. “Please, continue.”

“Well, that’s what happened. After that, I tried to escape, but Akechi found me and kidnapped me. The rest you know. But that’s not exactly why I’m here.” That raised a few eyebrows.

“Akechi knows that I know his true identity, but he doesn’t know you all know as well. That’s the only way I can think of that we can catch him. I expect that he’ll approach you all soon in some way, and you’ll have to take the opportunity.”

“Why would he, all of a sudden?” Yusuke asked. However, it wasn’t Hikaru who answered.

“Because we have no other option.” Futaba turned her laptop over to face all of them. “Public opinion of the Thieves is dropping rapidly, everyone fearing that this is what we’ve been doing in secret for the past few months. Hell, at this point, we might be blamed for mental shutdowns and everything related to the cognitive world.”

Hikaru continued. “Akechi will use this momentum he has to try and turn this against us. I can’t stay with you guys, or he will easily assume that I’ve told you all about what happened to me. I can’t even walk the streets as me anymore. Everyone thinks I’m gone, and he thinks I’m dead, so we need to make sure it stays that way. That’s why I haven’t been home since you all saved me from the warehouse that day.”

“That’s terrible!” Haru exclaimed.

“Yeah, things aren’t really looking up. Some people are already going around on forum posts calling us murderers and terrorists already.” Futaba said, interrupting the conversation.

“Then, for now, we have to wait again…” Ann said softly, Hikaru nodding.

“Patience is key. If we do things recklessly again, we’ll end up in a bigger ditch.”

“But we’ve been waiting all this time, is there really no one else we can target?” Akira asked. Hikaru shook his head.

“Not safely, no. Akechi knows that you’re Phantom Thieves, so there’s no reason as to assume he’s not monitoring all of you.”

“Maybe if you were there with us, we would’ve been fine…” Akira muttered, making Ryuji, who was next to him, nudge him with some force. Hikaru looked over.

“Did you say something, Akira?”

“…Why weren’t you there with us, when we went through Okumura’s Palace?”

Hikaru stiffened, looking away. He had no excuse.

“Why weren’t you there when we could’ve held Akechi off together, and Okumura could’ve been perfectly fine?!” Akira’s voice was slowly getting louder, and Hikaru felt the instinctual fear he felt when Yaldabaoth took over Akira’s body.

“That’s-” Hikaru stammered, but Akira cut him off.

“You haven’t explained anything, yet you’re just calling meetings like you own the place and just telling us what to do. Now we’re stuck in this mess because you couldn’t ask for help, like a normal person!” Hikaru listened silently, his head tilted down, shaggy hair shadowing his face.

“Akechi is the least of our concerns right now, Hikaru! We can’t do anything because the world is against us, because of the mess you set up! Now the public opinion has gone to absolute shit, and it’s because of you! Hell, we had to save your ass from Akechi because you didn’t even know what the hell you’re doing!”

“Do you know how much trouble you put us in?! At this rate, it would be better for you to just leave the group entirely!”

Hikaru’s lip began to tremble. He began shaking, but not in anger.

“Akira!” Ann finally yelled, stopping the leader’s rampage.

“Dude, what the hell’s gotten into you?!” Akira turned over to Ryuji, who looked at him weirdly. He then noticed that all the Thieves were looking at him strangely, some scared, some concerned, some angry.

The only gaze not on him was Hikaru’s, who was on his shaking hands on his lap.

“I’m not wrong. He’s not even arguing back,” Akira sneered.

Haru turned her concerned gaze back to Hikaru, who was clenching his fists.

“…Akira’s right.” His response was sullen, despondent. It sent a cold shiver down Haru’s spine.

“See?” Akira said smugly, gaining a smack and a glare from Ryuji.

“He’s right, I shouldn’t be telling you all what to do. I made this mess anyway, right?” Hikaru got up, but Haru reached out a hand to grab his wrist. Hikaru turned back to look at her, and she gasped at Hikaru’s eyes.

The heir’s eyes were dull, heartbroken. He looked so tired, Haru felt bad for even holding him back.

“It’s alright, Haru. He’s right. Sorry for bothering you all, I’ll go now.”

She didn’t resist when Hikaru pulled his hand free. Everyone watched silently as Hikaru left the attic, only moving when they heard the bell of Hikaru leaving.

Haru was the first to act. She strode up to Akira and proceeded to slap him across the face.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” She growled.

“I must agree, that was certainly uncalled for.” Yusuke crossed his arms, an unimpressed look on his face. “While Hikaru’s methods may be unknown, the results don’t lie. If not for him, Okumura would actually be dead, and we would be in a bigger problem.”

“I’m with Yusuke here. Dude, what the hell possessed you? Didn’t you love him?” Ryuji said, much softer than everyone’s loud comments.

“Clearly, we aren’t all in our best minds. Let’s gather another day?” Makoto said, attempting to defuse the situation cleanly. Everyone shuffled out, some looking at Akira concerningly, and some not even sparing a glance.

Akira remained stunned where Haru had slapped him. Futaba, the only one left, grabbed her laptop and headed for the stairs, sparing one glance back.

“You know, he’s doing this for all of us, especially you. Maybe think about that for a moment.” She left without another word.

~~~

**_PM: RS - > HA_ **

**_RS:_ ** _bro_

**_RS:_ ** _u ok?_

**_User has been blocked!_ **

****

**_PM:_ ** _**AT - > HA**_

**_AT:_ ** _Hikaru are you alright?_

**_User has been blocked!_ **

**_PM: HO - > HA_ **

**_HO:_ ** _Are you ok?_

**_User has been blocked!_ **

****

**_PM:_ ** _**MN - > HA**_

**_MN:_ ** _Can we talk, Hikaru?_

**_User has been blocked!_ **

****

**_PM: YK - > HA_ **

**_YK:_ ** _I would like to apologize for Akira’s actions. Are you free, Hikaru?_

**_User has been blocked!_ **

****

**_PM:_ ** _**FS - > HA**_

**_FS:_ ** _yo u wanna play league to get your mind off of it?_

**_User has been blocked!_ **

****

**_PM: AK - > HA_ **

**_AK:_ ** _im sorry_

**_User has been blocked!_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof.


	36. Recovering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \\(^w^)/

**_MN created a group!_ **

**_MN has added RS, AT, YK, FS, and HO to the group!_ **

**_MN:_ ** _Is everyone online?_

**_RS:_ ** _yep_

**_AT:_ ** _here_

**_YK:_ ** _Present._

**_FS:_ ** _mhm_

**_HO:_ ** _Im here!_

**_MN:_ ** _Alright. Then we need to address what happened yesterday._

**_MN:_ ** _I’m assuming Hikaru blocked everyone, right?_

**_FS:_ ** _yep he did_

**_FS:_ ** _i could just get past it but i think he needs space right now_

**_RS:_ ** _don’t blame him at all…_

**_MN:_ ** _Especially what he said on the roof…_

**_HO:_ ** _I can’t stand akira right now_

**_HO:_ ** _After what he done, Im rightfully pissed as hell_

**_AT:_ ** _but is akira fine? He is still someone important to all of us…_

**_YK:_ ** _That is true, but Akira’s actions are clearly in the wrong here. But it still doesn’t change the fact that he is our leader._

**_YK:_ ** _He still has Morgana with him, yes?_

**_FS:_ ** _ye i told him to keep an eye on akira_

**_MN:_ ** _This is totally off topic and potentially upsetting news, but just to let you all know midterms is coming up next week._

**_RS:_ ** _fuck im so not in the mood for studying right now_

**_RS:_ ** _i dont think anyone is_

**_MN:_ ** _Honestly, to be perfectly honest, I could care less about studying right now, but it is still important._

**_MN:_ ** _Would you all like to meet somewhere, and we can study together? I don’t think I can if I tried studying alone…_

**_AT:_ ** _please_

**_HO:_ ** _Im alright with that. I have to catch up with my studies, I’ve been falling a bit behind especially after everything that happened…_

**_YK:_ ** _I would like to come as well. I’m not as prepared for my exams as I would like to be._

**_MN:_ ** _Feel free to, this invite is an open one. Let’s meet in the diner in Shibuya?_

**_FS:_ ** _uhhh im doing something rn so i don’t think ill come_

**_MN:_ ** _That’s also fine._

**_FS:_ ** _cool i think i found some info that could be helpful to us in these trying times_

**_RS:_ ** _im otw_

**_MN:_ ** _Alright. I’ll be there in a few minutes as well._

_~~~_

Hikaru gasped, eyes snapping open in the dark room. He sighed, sitting up and looking over to the glass wall, the bright lights of Shibuya’s nightlife not dimming in the slightest, even early in the morning. He looked over at the digital clock beside his bed. 02:31, it read.

_"At this rate, it would be better for you to just leave the group entirely!"_

The heir sighed, pulling his knees against his chest. Akira's words pierced his heart, shattering it completely. Hikaru couldn't keep those words out of his mind, haunted constantly by Akira's furious expression. The sheer anger and outrage on Akira's expression sent shivers of fear down Hikaru's spine.

Hikaru slumped back onto his bed, staring into the darkness above him. His eyes watered.

Did he overreact? He couldn’t stop the stream of self-doubt that came after the confrontation that turned for the worse.

Did he actually doom the Thieves? What would’ve happened had he warned them about Akechi as soon as he found out? Would they have safely helped Okumura without him ruining everything?

Hikaru turned over, facing away from the artificial light. He curled up under the comforter and cried himself to sleep once again.

~~~

**_PM: AT - > RS_ **

**_AT:_ ** _do u think hikaru will let us up if we go visit him_

**_RS:_ ** _how tf do we get him to know were downstairs_

**_RS:_ ** _blocked us remember_

**_AT:_ ** _on chat only_

**_AT:_ ** _we have a phone ryuji_

**_AT:_ ** _phones can call people_

**_RS:_ ** _tru_

**_RS:_ ** _idk if hell want us visiting…_

**_AT:_ ** _we can just say we need help with studying_

**_RS:_ ** _hell tell us to go to makoto_

**_AT:_ ** _uhh…ask him what the teacher said exactly?_

**_RS:_ ** _he hasn’t been in class for the past week_

**_AT:_ ** _fuck i have no idea_

**_AT:_ ** _but shouldn’t we check if he is ok?_

**_RS:_ ** _we should also make sure akira is fine_

**_AT:_ ** _true…_

**_RS:_ ** _why don’t we do this_

**_RS:_ ** _ill go see akira, you see hikaru_

**_RS:_ ** _then we can compare notes or some shit idk_

**_AT:_ ** _that’s… actually a good idea_

**_AT:_ ** _what changed_

**_RS:_ ** _my friends are fighting_

**_AT:_ ** _ey you too?_

**_RS:_ ** _im heading over to leblanc_

**_AT:_ ** _ok ill head over to the hotel_

_~~~_

Hikaru was laying in bed when his phone rang. He answered it and put it on speaker without looking at the contact number. Ann’s voice came from his phone’s speakers.

_“Uhh…Hikaru? I’m downstairs, can you let me up?”_

Hikaru ended the call without saying anything, and got up, heading over to the phone on the desk.

_“How may I assist you, Young Master?”_

“There’s a blond girl about my age with blue eyes in the lobby. She’s probably wearing a Shujin uniform. Her name’s Ann Takamaki. Pass her a copy of the card to my room, please.”

_“Are you sure?”_

“Yeah.”

_“Very well.”_

Hikaru laid back onto the bed and waited.

Meanwhile, Ann was confused as to what to do when Hikaru just ended the call without saying anything. Did he not want to see anyone? Or was he coming down right now? She had no idea what Hikaru was doing.

She didn’t have to stay confused any longer, as the lady from the reception approached her and passed her a key card.

“You must be Miss Ann Takamaki, yes?”

“Uhh, yeah? What’s this?” Ann asked, totally confused.

“The Young Master asked me to pass you this. His room is on the 51st floor, the top floor of the hotel.” Ann’s face brightened after hearing that.

“Oh, thank you so much!” Ann got up, bowing deeply. She then rushed towards the elevators, getting into one and scanning the key card. Once the light above the scanner flashed green, she pressed the button for the 51st floor.

When she arrived, she slowly entered, looking around for any sign of the heir. The living room and kitchen seemed totally untouched except for the plate of food probably from this morning on the dining table. Ann hummed, going upstairs.

“Hikaru…? Are you alive?” She asked, seeing the unresponsive heir lying prone on the bed, the only sign he was actually alive being his chest expanding and relaxing as he breathed. Ann slowly approached him and poked his side. Hikaru let out a groan, a hand coming to slap away Ann’s.

Hikaru rolled over, his shirt slightly rolling up his body, revealing the edge of his scar. Ann flinched, seeing the wide scar.

“That’s…” Ann muttered, hand slowly reaching over to Hikaru’s body. Hikaru hurriedly pulled his shirt down, hiding his scar from view.

“Don’t worry about it…” Hikaru said, facing away from Ann. “Just the leftovers from what happened. Doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

“Hikaru…you’ve been helping us from a distance, haven’t you?” Ann said gently, a small smile on her face.

“I felt guilty about not doing anything, so I usually followed you all in. Futaba knows, she’s seen me in the Palace. I also went on a Mementos run with Mona before you all sent the calling card. That’s all I’ve done, really.”

“That’s still a lot.” Ann sat down on the bed. “No matter what people say, you still care, don’t you?”

“Do you think so? Even after what Akira said?” Hikaru said, barely above a whisper. He turned back over. Ann finally got to look at Hikaru’s face, and she hated it.

The heir had heavy bags under his eyes, his face slightly pale. A tired smile grew onto his face, but those weren’t the worst thing. The worst thing was his eyes, which were dull, lifeless, hopeless, heartbroken. As if there wasn’t anything that was worth it anymore. Those were the eyes of someone who has been hurt too much, and too afraid to trust anymore, and Ann hated it. She hated it even more because she knew that Hikaru still cared, that he still loved Akira, and that was the most tragic thing she could think of.

“I’m so sorry, Hikaru…” Tears naturally began welling up when she saw the sadness in Hikaru’s eyes. She pulled him into a hug, tears flowing out. “I’m so sorry that we didn’t notice anything. I’m sorry you’ve gone on for so long, all alone.”

“It’s fine, Ann. I’ll be fine,” Hikaru said, but his voice was beginning to crack.

“You’re not alone anymore, Hikaru. You don’t have to be so strong anymore. Let it out.” And just like that, with the same words as last time, the dam broke.

Hikaru began sobbing, his tears staining Ann’s jacket. “…It fucking hurts, Ann. It fucking hurts so much, and I can’t take much more of this. I don’t know if there’s a point trying, but I want there to be, so badly. Is it too much for me to hope that he still loves me, even after everything I did to him? Is it selfish for me to hope for something like that?”

“No, because I know he will. If he doesn’t, then he doesn’t know what he had just let go. You’re one of a kind, Hikaru. Not everyone can be caring enough, and even selfless enough to stay away from their lover just to protect them. You’re strong, so much stronger than all of us, and yet you remain the kindest. You’re so, so strong…”

“But Akira…” Words failed Hikaru as his emotions spilled out. He couldn’t speak anymore, only able to sit there and weep. And they wept. Hikaru, for the one in his heart, for his mistakes that he had made, for his cowardice and weakness; and Ann, for her friend’s sorrow, for her own weakness to not be able to help the ones close to her, for everything that Hikaru had to endure, none of them any wiser.

The two friends cried for each other, and for all the suffering and pain that they had to go through.

~~~

To be perfectly honest, Ryuji wasn’t looking forward to this. He would much prefer Hikaru over Akira at the current moment, but sometimes, you had to take the hard path in life, so that others don’t have to.

Ryuji stood in front of Leblanc for a moment, thinking to himself. He hoped that Ann realized how big of a favor he was currently doing for her. He entered, and after greeting Sojiro, headed upstairs.

Akira was busy working on something at the desk, with Morgana overseeing. The cat had sent him a concerned look when he entered. Ryuji bit his lip. Things were going to be rough.

“Akira?” Ryuji tried, but Akira ignored him as if he heard nothing. Ryuji sighed. Well, at least this much was expected.

“Akira.” Said teen dropped his tools, turning over to face Ryuji. He looked tired, exhausted, even. It looked like he was barely able to even get a wink of sleep.

“Dude, get some sleep. You look like you’ll pass out at any time right now.”

“No time.”

“Akira. Go to sleep.” The leader grunted, going back to whatever he was doing. Ryuji sighed.

He went over to Akira and snatched the tools from his hands. Akira let out a whine, trying to grab them back, but Ryuji held them out of reach. “Go to sleep, dude. Staying awake for how many hours straight ain’t gonna solve anything.”

“But I don’t want to…” Akira muttered, “or it’ll happen again.”

“It?” Ryuji asked.

Akira began trembling. He attempted to stand up and stumbled, Ryuji quickly catching him. The blond guided him over to the bed, where he sat slowly.

“I don’t know what came over me yesterday…I just got so irrationally angry.” Akira began. “After you all left, I suddenly realized what the hell I just did. Fuck, I tried to apologize to him, but he blocked me, so I thought I fucked up beyond redemption…”

“…At least you know what you said was wrong, right?” Ryuji asked. Akira’s lip trembled.

“That’s the thing, Ryuji. I know what I said was wrong, but I can’t find it in myself to deny it. If you asked me, I wouldn’t say I said a lie at all. It’s the truth for me, and that’s what’s scary here.” Akira lowered his head, hiding his face in his hands. “What’s happening to me…”

“Akira, listen to me.”

The leader lifted his head, turning over to meet Ryuji’s gaze.

“I won’t lie to you. What you did was an absolute dick move that could’ve lost us a precious and strong ally when we needed it the most,” Ryuji started, and Akira flinched.

“But that doesn’t mean you’re suddenly no one. You’re still my bro and the one that saved all of us. You’re the one that led the Phantom Thieves, the one who cared for all of us behind the scenes. Whenever we had personal issues, you were the one to save us.”

“All of this, Hikaru couldn’t have done. That’s all you. I’m pretty sure, to all of us, you’re still an important friend that helped us through our darkest times, and also led us without complaining at all. I would say you’re going through plenty,” Ryuji concluded.

“But that doesn’t change how I treated one of our members. Hikaru is by far, no offense, one of the most useful members of the Phantom Thieves, whether he was even there or not. That says a lot about his presence, not to even mention his relationship with me.”

“Then apologize. Go meet him face-to-face and talk properly. From what I can tell, Hikaru’s the kind to forgive, even if you don’t deserve it.”

“That’s certainly true,” Morgana piped from beside the two teens. “He’s a kind one, always willing to accept everyone even if they betrayed him. That’s his greatest strength, as well as his greatest weakness.”

Ryuji nodded. “Hikaru will listen to you. He’s been waiting for you to approach him all this while, you know?”

“But why would he? I can’t even control myself. If I stay near him, he’s going to get hurt again. I don’t want to hurt him anymore, Ryuji. That look of hurt on him yesterday…” Akira shivered, remembering the look of pain and agony in Hikaru’s eyes. “I don’t want that to happen anymore, and it’s just been happening around me. Maybe I am the problem…”

“Stop it,” Ryuji commanded, immediately silencing Akira. “Do you know why Hikaru is so sad?”

“Because I said a ton of bad things and hurt him…?”

“What did you say that broke his heart?”

Akira thought for a moment. Wasn’t Hikaru sad because of the hateful words he said? He can’t even remember properly, he just wanted to erase that entire conversation out of his head.

“…You don’t remember, do you?” Akira sadly shook his head. Ryuji sighed, getting up.

“If you can’t remember, then there’s nothing I can do to help you. Just think. What can you say to destroy the person full of trust, full of love for you? The answer is a lot easier than you think it is.” And with that, Ryuji left.

Akira watched Ryuji’s retreating figure going down the stairs, and heard the bell indicating that he had left. “…Morgana, am I a bad person?”

“No, you’re flawed. And that’s normal. But that means you have to take responsibility for what you’ve done, and that won’t come easily.”

~~~

Midterms come and went. None of the Thieves, not even Makoto, felt confident in their exams. Their thoughts were too preoccupied with Hikaru and Akira to even think about trigonometry and the history of Edo period Japan. As a result, none of them are even surprised when their scores dropped slightly. Makoto herself was barely able to maintain an A, the lowest score being an 81 on her math test.

Hikaru hasn’t left the room at all for the first few days, spending most of his time staring at his ceiling from his bed. There have been no visits from Ann or anyone during exam week, which was understandable. Hikaru also wasn’t in the mood to go out, so it’s just been days of him rotting in his room.

This inactivity also gave him time to properly recover. Words hurt, but it wasn’t enough to bring him down. Hell, he has walked off getting stabbed. There was no way this was going to be his downfall.

He gave himself enough time to heal the hole in his heart, and soon enough, he felt better. By the middle of the week, he started playing games again, asking the reception for some books to read, maybe even rent out the swimming pool in the hotel to use. Anything but stay stationary and letting his mind wander.

He was recovering, but slowly.

Akira, on the other hand, was forced to go to school, so his life hasn’t been too good. He’s been sulky and depressed all week and has tried multiple times to contact Hikaru to no avail. Every time he failed, it crushed him even more on the inside, making him feel like absolute trash. Every time the Thieves saw him, he seemed to be even sadder than before, if that was even possible. It was to the point where even Morgana thought it was a problem. Add on police interrogations and you had stress all over the place.

Ann and Ryuji visited Hikaru the day on Sunday, a week after the argument, and were positively surprised by how well Hikaru was handling everything.

“No offense here, and smack me if I’m being insensitive, but I thought you’d be depressed for at least another week or something,” Ryuji said as they entered the clean and tidy hotel room, seeing Hikaru in the kitchen cooking something that smelt quite good.

“I wouldn’t exactly say I’m not depressed, just more productive than lying around letting the doubts in my head eat at me,” Hikaru replied, flipping the pancake on the pan over. “You guys want some? I made extra batter for tomorrow, but I can always make more.”

“Well, this is really a once-in-a-lifetime experience, isn’t it? Having the rich son of the largest corporation in the country cook for you?” Ann teased, making Hikaru laugh. He moved the finished pancake to a plate with two other pancakes on top of it and added more butter to the pan. He then grabbed a scoop of pancake batter and poured it in, letting it cook for a while.

“Here, you two can have these ones first. The bottom ones are cooler than the rest, so don’t burn yourself. Whatever condiments you want are probably in the fridge. If it isn’t there, check the cupboard over there,” Hikaru said, pointing with his chin to the cupboard beside the sink.

“Well, if you’re offering.” The two grabbed some utensils and their own plates with Hikaru’s help. Ryuji reached into the fridge to get some chocolate syrup and honey, while Ann grabbed strawberry and caramel sauce.

“Thanks for the meal!” the both of them echoed. They took a bite, and immediately let out hums of content. It wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t bad, either. It tasted just like a normal, homemade pancake.

“How is it?” Hikaru asked, flipping over the pancake on the pan. Not too burnt. Nice.

“Not bad, just normal. So, good.” Ann responded. Hikaru shrugged. That was good enough. He decided not to mention the first day he tried cooking, and the burnt mess that resulted from that.

Hikaru finished cooking his pancakes and joined the other two at the table, grabbing some maple syrup on his way. He plopped down on the table and began eating. Well, they certainly weren’t wrong. They didn’t taste bad, but nothing particularly good about it, either. Just average.

“So, how have you been?” Ann started the conversation while they slowly ate.

“Fine, really. I took a few days to sulk, but then I realized that sulking isn’t going to do anything, so I just have been trying to be productive. Picked up how to cook basic foods, cleaned up a bit, went swimming for the hell of it. I just needed to move around. Staying still would just give me time to think, and I don’t really want to devolve back into a ball of anxiety and stress.”

Ryuji and Ann looked at each other, and back at Hikaru. The heir was doing much better than they thought. At this rate, he would be fine even if they hadn’t come to visit. Compared to Akira, he was doing so much better. Granted, Akira was the one who had it the roughest, being the one who had to deal with the consequences of his actions.

“Well, to be honest, we thought you would’ve been worse off, and wouldn’t have mentioned this if you were,” Ann prefaced, making Hikaru look up curiously, “but we think that we’ll be going to the school festival as a group. Do you want to come with?”

“Will he be going?” Hikaru asked, and both of them looked at each other. Hikaru cut off another piece of pancake, putting it in his mouth. He didn’t need to specify who he was talking about.

“We asked him, but he hasn’t said anything…” Ryuji replied. Hikaru hummed, looking back down on his plate, smeared with maple syrup. There were a few tense moments where the two blonds waited anxiously as Hikaru chewed his food.

“…If he’s going, I’m not. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to talk again, at least right now,” Hikaru said solemnly.

“…That’s fair. Makoto also mentioned that her sister was placed in charge of the Phantom Thieves’ investigation.” Hikaru’s eyes snapped open in panic.

“Wait, her sister?! Sae Niijima, the one who works in the SIU?” Ann gravely nodded. Hikaru groaned, a hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Can things not just calm down for once?”

“The public’s decided that the Phantom Thieves are public enemy numero uno. They say Okumura was lucky to live, and that the Phantom Thieves’ true aim was to wipe the world of corrupt people by killing them. What a load of bullshit…” Ryuji commented, crossing his arms.

Ann continued. “Officers were around the past two days to interview each student individually, since the school was the start of the Phantom Thief incidents. The school festival is moved over to the two days from now, since there really is no other time that they could get free.”

“They also found a calling card in Kobayakawa’s office, making it seem like we killed him as well. So, the public opinion of us is definitely a burning dumpster fire.” Ann concluded.

“Now the problem is the whole guest speaker thing,” Ryuji groaned. “The overall majority is clearly for Akechi, and Makoto’s forced to ask him.”

“…Can you call a meeting here?” Hikaru asked, and Ryuji and Ann both gave him shocked looks. Hikaru rolled his eyes.

“Why are you so shocked? Things aren’t looking good, and if Akira’s not fit to lead right now, it’s my responsibility to do something as second-in-command, no?”

Happy smiles grew onto both their faces.

~~~

“Makoto, what do you know about Akechi?”

The Phantom Thieves, sans Akira, were gathered in Hikaru’s hotel room. Yusuke and Futaba had raided the fridge and cupboard for snacks, while Haru and Makoto were more composed, taking a look at the cityscape from the window. They then gathered in the living room, lounging wherever they wanted.

“Without a doubt, Akechi is probably going to be the guest for the school festival. He’s all but confirmed it, and really, there is no one else the students would accept. Plus, this will give him the chance to approach us, so I don’t see him declining it.”

“Futaba, about the SIU?”

“They’re mobilized. Soon, there’s going to be a bounty placed on us, most likely. Your sister isn’t pulling any punches here, Makoto. If we’re careless, we’re screwed. Hikaru, do you have anything to add to all of this?”

Hikaru shook his head, standing in front of everyone. With a wave of his hands, he formed an empty board that they could all interact with. “Here, we can draft plans with this.”

“So, I have ideas. Feel free to interrupt any time.” Hikaru began writing on the board, making rough sketches of important people and ideas. He then wrote ‘School Festival’ at the top and underlined it, tapping it with his fingers.

“Akechi will most definitely make his move during the school festival. That’s when you all have to be wary. Knowing him, he’ll find some way to manipulate you all to do something for him,” Hikaru guessed. Akechi seemed like the cunning type, considering his façade of a detective. The only reason that was all skipped with Hikaru was because the heir saw his true identity.

“You also need to deny all relations and involvement with me. If Akechi even has the suspicion that you all have come into contact with me at all, then he will assume that I told you all his identity. That’s the one thing we can only hope for here. If he says that we were close, just say I ran away before you all found me, and that you all are worried or something. Don’t bring up my name if you can, alright?” Nods all around.

“Now, the hard part. If we want to turn this around, we need the person at the top of all of this. Lucky for all of you, Akechi accidentally leaked a name. Shido. Sound familiar?” Makoto and Haru gasped.

“Wait, Shido, as in Masayoshi Shido? The man who’s trying to run for Prime Minister?” Haru asked.

“The very same. I’ll try to figure out what’s happening with him, and how he’s involved with everything. Meanwhile, we need to make sure all of you survive Akechi.”

“And how do we do that?” Yusuke asked, snacking on some Jagariko.

“The same way I did it. Make him believe you’re dead.”

“Wait, all of us?!”

“No, he’ll probably not go for all of you. He wants to go for the leader.” Hikaru drew a sort of hierarchy within the Thieves. Akira was at the top; Makoto, Hikaru, and Futaba at the second level, and everyone else below. He crossed his own name out, seeing as Akechi believed that he was dead.

“As soon as Akira is out,” Hikaru crossed out Akira, “we would be left leaderless. Of course, we have planned that should an event happen, either Makoto or I will take over, but you cannot deny that Akira is the one holding all of us together.”

“His thinking is not wrong, just outdated. Things have begun looking more like this.” Hikaru redrew the hierarchy. This time, the top level was still Akira, but Makoto was alone on the second level, everyone else in the third. Hikaru was left outside of the hierarchy, with a branch connecting him back to Akira.

“I’m now acting independently from the Phantom Thieves, my original position replaced by Futaba. Now, looking at this, even if you cut Akira from the top, Makoto is naturally next in line to take over. Akechi assumes that we will go into a power struggle and that it will be easy for him to sweep the rest of us up while he finished Akira first.”

“That’s why it’s important we withhold as much information as we can. This is no longer just planning and hoping for the best, this is an information war. Any leaks and our entire strategy can be jeopardized. My position as auxiliary support is the most important one, seeing as I’m the only one who can move around without heavy surveillance.”

Everyone nodded gravely. The reality of the situation has begun to sink in, and everyone was nervous.

“Now, onto the whole faking Akira’s death thing. I think I might have an idea, but it’ll need coordination, luck, and a whole lot of charisma from Akira’s end.”

~~~

Hikaru entered the school festival, properly disguised. If anyone asked, he was a student from a different school looking for his friend. He slipped on a face mask just to make sure he wasn’t recognized.

His first step was to scan the entire compound for Akechi’s presence. And sure enough, there he was. Hikaru had to make sure he wasn’t anywhere near Akechi’s field of view. If he spots Hikaru, it’s all over. He made his way to the auditorium, finding a small corner away from sight that he could hide in.

Most students have begun to file into the auditorium, excited at Akechi coming to their school. The Thieves walked past him, a few of them giving him short glances. He stiffened when Akira came into view but forced himself to make eye contact. He needed to make sure Akira knew what to do. Akira looked over, and immediately averted his eyes. Hikaru clicked his tongue under his mask. Whatever, it’ll be fine.

Makoto went towards the stage, grabbing a mic and a stack of papers that she had prepared beforehand. She pretended to be nervous as she got on the stage, turning on her mic.

“Good afternoon everyone. My name is Makoto Niijima, the student council president of Shujin Academy. This is the guest speaker panel, and we won’t keep you waiting any longer. Introducing, famous detective Goro Akechi!”

Loud applause rang throughout the auditorium as Akechi emerged on stage, giving a warm smile and waving around. Hikaru remained silent, watching Akechi’s eyes. It seemed that the detective didn’t notice him at all. What a great detective, indeed.

“There’s certainly a large amount of people here, more than I expected. I’m starting to get stage fright,” Akechi said with a charming smile. Some people laughed in response, making him chuckle.

“Well, I’m sure you are aware of what everyone here must be thinking. I’ll cut straight to the chase and save everyone the suspense. May we ask how the Phantom Thief case is going?” Makoto asked, eyes not once looking down to the papers in her hand. “Please, tell us as much as you can.”

“Straight to the chase, indeed. Well, if it’s how much I can, then everything on TV is all of it. We still have no suspects and no idea of their motives or methods. It’s beginning to look like a cold case.” The crowd roared in disapproval, earning a sigh from Akechi.

“Well, how about your opinion? I’m sure everyone here would like to know of your opinion on the Phantom Thieves. You have mentioned before that you believe them to be a separate case than the mental shutdown incidents, did you not? What made you believe that?”

“The questions keep coming, don’t they, Niijima-san?” Akechi teased, making the crowd laugh.

“Oh, pardon me, it’s just a personal interest in mine,” Makoto replied curtly.

“Well, the evidence seems to be against me this time, but I still believe that the Phantom Thieves have nothing to do with this case.” Akechi said, a charismatic smile on his face. Hikaru thought he heard squealing from the crowd.

“May I ask why?” Makoto asked smoothly.

“Well, if the Phantom Thieves are who I think they are, then they aren’t the kind of people to do such a thing.”

That response generated some murmurs. Makoto, however, wasn’t fazed at all. She did slip some shock into her voice when she asked the next question. “That statement…it seems that you might know who the Phantom Thieves are. Would you mind sharing?”

“Oh, it’s just my personal thoughts. There’s no evidence at all, purely guesses.” Akechi raised his hands, waving them. “It’s nothing to be excited about.”

“But you are praised as an ace detective, no? Surely, even your guesses would have some credibility.” Makoto replied, forcing Akechi to answer.

“Well, if you ask, I suppose there is no harm in saying. This is my personal opinion, however. It might be entirely wrong or spot on. There is a chance that everyone in this hall might hear the real identity of the Thieves before everyone else.” Akechi said, exciting everyone in the crowd.

“I believe that the identities of the Phantom Thieves are…”

Everyone held in their breath.

_Beep-beep!_

“Oh, that’s my phone. Please, pardon me. I cannot turn it off due to the nature of my job,” Akira said with a sheepish grin, a hand slipping into his pocket to silence it. “Could we possibly call a break here?”

Makoto nodded. “Everyone, we will be back in ten minutes. Please, take this time to go to the washroom or to get some refreshments.” The crowd let out a collective groan, some people getting up to rush over to the washroom at the side of the hall.

Akechi whispered something to Makoto and nodded over to the direction of the Thieves. Hikaru’s eyes sharpened, looking straight at Makoto. She gave a slight nod, both to the Thieves and to Hikaru.

Showtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (｡-∀-)


	37. Planning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Into the casino. Well, at least for the main group of Thieves.

**_Phantom of the Opera_ **

**_MN:_ ** _Everything went as planned, Hikaru._

**_HA:_ ** _( ^o^)b_

**_FS:_ ** _feels so surreal to see that typed out_

**_FS:_ ** _even for me_

**_RS:_ ** _isnt that the language of your people_

**_RS:_ ** _the internet dwellers_

**_FS:_ ** _up fuck shut the_

**_AT:_ ** _but at least we were right in the assumption that akechi wanted to approach us_

**_YK:_ ** _I am more curious about what he wanted us to do for him._

**_YK:_ ** _He said he would get rid of those photos, though that clearly is a lie._

**_MN:_ ** _Oh, by the way, he had asked about you, Hikaru._

**_HA:_ ** _?_

**_MN:_ ** _I mentioned how you distanced yourself from us before Okumura’s Palace, saying things about having to do something and then vanishing. We haven’t seen you since._

**_HA:_ ** _( ^o^)b_

**_HO:_ ** _Are you just limited to talking with emojis?_

**_HA:_** _¯\\_(_ _ツ_ _)_/¯_

**_HO:_ ** _Fair enough! :)_

**_HA:_ ** _|(^o^)|_

**_AK:_ ** _whats happenin_

**_AT:_ ** _u have any idea of what akechi might want our help with_

**_AK:_ ** _nope_

**_YK:_ ** _On an unrelated note, would anyone like to come help me with a project?_

**_AK:_ ** _i can_

**_YK:_ ** _That is appreciated, but I would like someone else, if you don’t mind._

**_HA:_ ** _(^_^)/_

**_YK:_ ** _Thank you, Hikaru. I could meet you where you are?_

**_HA:_ ** _(^_^)b_

**_YK:_ ** _That would be convenient. I will be over in just a moment._

_~~~_

**_PM: RS - > HA_ **

**_RS:_ ** _akiras getting depressed again_

**_HA:_ ** _tell him to come to me, look me in the eyes, and apologize_

**_HA:_ ** _then we’ll see what we can do_

**_RS:_ ** _hes hard convinced that you hate him and never want to see his face again_

**_HA:_ ** _what part of my previous message does he not understand_

**_RS:_ ** _he is also hard convinced that this will happen again, and you’ll be left heartbroken by him once again_

**_HA:_ ** _the fact that he’s not doing anything about it is breaking my heart_

**_RS:_ ** _why is he like this_

**_RS:_ ** _why did you love someone like this_

**_HA:_ ** _he stole my heart, captain_

**_RS:_ ** _fuck_

**_HA:_ ** _woah language_

**_RS:_ ** _screw u_

**_HA:_ ** _ <3_

**_RS:_ ** _save that for akira_

**_HA:_ ** _when he gets his bitch ass up and come apologizes_

**_HA:_ ** _now im going to pose for yusuke_

**_RS:_ ** _have fun with that_

_~~~_

“Isn’t this the first time we properly hung out, Yusuke?” Hikaru asked.

He was currently lounged on the couch, laying comfortably. Yusuke had said to ‘get comfortable’, so Hikaru did the thing. So far, Yusuke had not complained.

“I believe so, yes. I suppose I never had the opportunity, or our schedules never collided,” Yusuke muttered, focusing on his painting. He had told Hikaru that he intended to pain the deadly sin of sloth, and the heir was only mildly offended. ‘Akira would’ve been a terrible subject,’ the artist had said.

“Yeah, I think the only times we really talk is in the Metaverse, and those are usually battle commands,” Hikaru replied. “So, how’s Kosei life?”

“Terrible,” Yusuke replied without a pause. “Everyone is obsessed with the fact that I was Madarame’s pupil, and that his heart was stolen by the Phantom Thieves, so by some connection that made absolutely no sense, I must know who they are. They aren’t wrong, but I’m not telling them that.” Yusuke looked up from his painting. “Shift your leg slightly downwards, please.”

Hikaru slid his leg further down the couch until Yusuke told him to stop. “But surely not everyone is like that?”

“There are some who are nice, yes. Those are rare but do exist. For example, Togo-san is quite kind to me and she doesn’t bring up the Madarame problem unless I do so first.”

“Togo? Hifumi Togo?” Hikaru asked, Yusuke responding with a nod.

“Cool. She seems like a cool person to hang out with.” Hikaru said, staring out into the cityscape. For a Wednesday evening, everything was quite calm.

“Hey, Yusuke?” Hikaru asked, earning a hum.

“Do you think ghosts are real?” Yusuke put down his brush and stood up, brushing himself off.

“Are you that starved for conversation topics?” Yusuke asked, taking a step back and looking at his work. He hummed in approval, taking his brush to wash.

“Am I done?” Hikaru asked.

“Yes. You’re free to move again.” Hikaru groaned, running upstairs to go take a leak. He’s been holding it in halfway through Yusuke’s painting, not wanting to disrupt Yusuke’s concentration.

“Yeah, but anyway, you believe in ghosts?!” Hikaru yelled from the washroom.

“I suppose not, but the concept itself of life after death is certainly an interesting one,” Yusuke responded, packing up his brushes. Hikaru came out, relieved, and felt his stomach grumble.

“Also, you want dinner?”

“…If it isn’t a bother.”

“Oh, no bother at all. I’m not the one making it.”

Hikaru handed Yusuke the room service menu. The artist’s eyes widened in pure shock at the price tacked onto some of the dishes. One meal was almost double the amount he spent monthly on food expenses. “I couldn’t possibly…!”

“And I’m telling you, it’s fine. Order the most outrageously priced item on the menu that you want, or I’ll order for you.” Yusuke looked through it carefully, eyes widening as the number grew larger and larger as he approached the steak section.

“One steak is 20,000 yen…?” Yusuke gasped. “I only wish to see the item that costs that much…”

“I personally don’t like steaks, but if you want it…” Hikaru shrugged. Yusuke tried to protest, but Hikaru was already gone. He went upstairs and called reception, ordering the absurdly priced steak and a simple fish and chips for himself.

“It’ll be here in a moment. So, while waiting, you were talking about ghosts?”

“…Did you actually get the steak?” Yusuke stammered out in disbelief. Hikaru shrugged, making a weird, noncommittal sound.

“You said you wanted to try it, so…” Hikaru trailed off, looking at Yusuke strangely.

“…I suppose, if you offer,” Yusuke said, resigned. Hikaru patted him on the shoulder and went back to the couch, turning on the TV.

Yusuke left the hotel a happy man, with a completed draft of his painting and a small takeout bag containing a piece of steak that costed more than his rent.

~~~

_You’re all set up?_

_“Yep. He should be on the way.”_

Hikaru swiped his screen onto the TV, displaying the current situation in Leblanc. Slipping on the headphones Futaba had passed him, he could hear clearly what was happening in Leblanc, as if he was personally there.

The doorbell rang, and Akechi entered, his charismatic smile still on his face. Everyone stiffened, not exactly hiding their disgust for the detective.

“So, have you all considered my offer?” he asked, making Ryuji snort.

“What offer? It was more of a strong suggestion with heavy consequences than anything,” he replied, sarcasm clear in his voice.

Akechi chuckled. “No need for such animosity. I will admit that the situation against you all isn’t exactly favorable, and thus eaves you without much of a choice. But, I assure you that what I need your help with isn’t that bad.”

“So, what is it?” Haru asked, spinning around on the barstool.

“I would like you all to change a heart for me.”

“Yeah, we get that, but whose?” Ann retorted, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, whose…” Hikaru muttered to himself, a few kilometers from where the meeting was taking place. Akechi would most likely target people that would benefit him, wouldn’t he? Anything less would be absolutely pointless. So, did the Thieves and Akechi have a common enemy at this point?

“This…might be hard for you, Niijima, but I would like to change Sae-san’s heart.” Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise.

Akechi explained himself. “Right now, as head of the Phantom Thieves case, Sae-san is under a lot of pressure from higher-ups to maintain the image of the SIU and to end this case quickly. Sae-san is someone who believes in her ability to win any case, which is why this particular one is causing her so much stress. At this rate, she might even force a false confession…”

“Makoto…?” Akira whispered in concern. Makoto let out a shaky sigh.

“…I knew Sis had a Palace. She was the first person I checked when I got the Nav,” she muttered softly. “I knew that what she was doing was wrong, but I couldn’t properly justify it until now. After all, who wants to admit their sister of all people is corrupted? Now, I suppose I have no choice.”

“…I’m sorry, but this is how it turned out.” Akechi seemed genuinely apologetic, which shocked some of them.

Makoto bit her lip, looking at her hands in her lap. “…No, it’s partially my fault for not doing anything about it as well. Let’s do it.”

“Then that is all I need to tell you all. Shall we meet by the courthouse tomorrow?” The Thieves gave affirmative nods. With that, the meeting came to an end quickly.

They waited until Futaba gave the signal that Akechi was gone for good before continuing.

_“Sae’s Palace…makes sense, really. She is one of the few members of the SIU that the director can’t control. It would be beneficial for Shido to dispose of her.”_

_You think so?_

_“Definitely. I’m heading out over here for a scouting run.”_

_Understood. Watch yourself, Sky. None of us will be close enough to bail you out. I can serve as your eyes, and that’s it._

_“I got it.”_

Hikaru sat up and got into his disguise. It was starting to get late, the sun beginning to set.

Perfect timing, in his opinion.

He kept the headphones around his neck as he got on the train heading to Chiyoda, slipping them on to drown out the loud chatter of the crowd.

 _“You can hear me with these fine, yeah?”_ A voice spoke from the headphones.

 _“Yeah, loud and clear. No idea if these will work in the Metaverse, though,”_ Hikaru responded. He got off once his train reached its stop. Exiting the station, he made his way over to the National Diet building, watching it from a distance. A sense of melancholy overtook him as he watched the building’s silhouette turned darker due to the darkening sky. The flag of Japan on the side of the building fluttered in the wind, alone. Hikaru pulled out his phone, looking around for any witnesses. None.

“Masayoshi Shido. National Diet Building.” The Metaverse Navigator booted up.

“Ship.”

_“Entry found. Beginning navigation.”_

~~~

“Apollo, Supernova!”

Sharp arrows of light pierced through the security guards, blinding the crowd of masked guests in the ship’s lobby. Sky landed on his feet cleanly, letting out a breath as the Shadows behind him burned in the light.

It seems that five letters of recommendation were needed to proceed into the Treasure Room, so Sky had decided to get one on his current run. His status as an Aozora naturally just allowed him clearance as a VIP, making it simple for him to get into the restaurant, where the politician was waiting.

“Who dares-oh, it’s you, Aozora-san.” The politician in question, Ooe-san, was quite renowned for his ability to suck up to stronger people. As a result, Sky had decided that this was going to be easy.

“Hello, Ooe-san. I’m sorry for bothering you, but may I ask for a recommendation letter?”

“Oh, you wish to meet Shido-san? Well, I can certainly help. Who am I to deny the son of Kazuyoshi?” The man let out a cackle, reaching into the pockets of his suit to pull out a letter of recommendation. “If only your father would listen to Shido-san’s demands. He has so much to benefit from Shido-san’s deal, especially considering the Aozora history.”

Sky accepted the letter and politely laughed, eyes sharpening. “Yes, what a fool indeed. Much like you.”

“…What did you say?” Ooe’s smirk faltered, eyes slowly narrowing.

“Do you think the Aozora would ever associate themselves with the government, after all that happened? Do you think of us as idiots? We know what will happen should we align ourselves with Shido.” Sky said with a grin.

“You…you tricked me!” Ooe yelled.

“Did you just realize that? Wow, you really are denser than you let on,” Sky continued to mock, watching while Ooe let out a growl, dark aura converting him into his true form.

The aura surrounded his body and began to expand. When it finally stopped, Ooe was about the size of a quarter of the restaurant and about five meters tall. Sky hummed, leaping back and readying some knives in his hands. The beast let out an echoing roar, and the aura dispersed.

In front of the navigator was a beast with eight snake-like heads and one body. Each of the heads charged up a different elemental attack, aiming straight for the lone Phantom Thief. Fire, ice, wind, lightning, nuclear, psychic, light, and dark. Sky let out an impressed whistle. This was going to be a hard fight.

First things first, take out the threats.

He prepared himself as the beams of elemental energy launched towards him. Fire and ice surrounded him, as lightning and wind raced towards him from above. Summoning Apollo, he deflected all the attacks, launching them straight back to the serpentine monster. It let out a roar, but the elemental attacks were easily deflected with its armor. Sky clicked his tongue. Those tough scales were going to be an issue.

Sky launched himself into the air, giving him a clear path to throw his knives straight for the heads with nuclear and psychic energy. Those two elements usually held the most destructive power, so he needed those out first. He landed on his feet, but he had no time to waste.

The two heads growled as they felt the knives bounce off its thick scales. Sky cursed, landing just as the heads launched their attacks. The nuclear beam corroded everything in its path, while the psychic beam shredded everything it caught. Sky leaped aside but was nicked by the psychic beam.

He cursed as he felt the skin of his shoulder rip off, revealing the flesh underneath. Sky hissed as he rested a hand on it, channeling Apollo’s healing magic into the wound. His hand began glowing a bright gold, with strands of magic surrounding the injury. When he lifted it, the wound was gone, the skin repaired without any sign of damage. He let out a sigh of relief. Now, it was time for him to retaliate.

“Apollo!” Apollo emerged once again and launched a flurry of light arrows. The arrows were aimed at the different heads, making all of them let out roars of pain. The light and fire heads were the first to shake it off, attacking in return.

Sky allowed those attacks to hit him, taking no damage in the process. Fire and light were elements of the sun, so why did he need to be scared when he had the god of the sun on his side? He threw three knives towards the beast, causing more blood to trickle out from between its tough scales.

Sky jumped back, slinging his rifle into his arms. He skidded against the floor of the restaurant and, feeling Apollo’s presence behind him, fired. The bullet shattered the thick scales, plunging deep into its body. The Shadow shrieked, some of its heads flailing around.

“Apollo, full blast!” The Persona nodded, firing a charged arrow of light straight for the beast’s heart where the broken scales were, piercing through it entirely. The monster roared and slumped over, its heads falling down over the large hole in its body.

It began to crumble, vanishing into the dark pool that returned the Shadow to the Sea of Souls.

“Master Shido will hear about this…” it muttered with an ominous voice, and it was gone.

“Shido can hear about it all he wants, but he can’t do anything about it.” Sky said to the empty space where the Shadow once occupied. He picked up a fallen throwing knife on the ground, flicking off the dark substance of Shadows. The restaurant was now empty, all the guests present having evacuated when the Shadow politician revealed his true form. A grim look grew onto Sky’s expression.

“He’s the one who started all of this. And I’ll be the one to end it.”

~~~

The Phantom Thieves gathered by the side of the courthouse, looking around cautiously. Some pedestrians gave the curious glances but ultimately ignored it. It wasn’t their business, so they had no reason to question it.

Yusuke sighed. “Akechi is late.”

“Speak of the devil,” Makoto muttered softly as Akechi appeared around the corner.

“Sorry for my tardiness, something came up at work. I hope you weren’t kept waiting too long,” Akechi apologized, yet another smile on his face.

“Now, shall we head in?” He pulled out his phone. Futaba’s eyes sparkled as she snatched the device from Akechi’s hands.

“Woah, isn’t this the new model?! I had my eye on this for weeks! It isn’t even out to the public yet, how the hell?!” She yelled excitedly. Akechi gave a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of his head.

“I suppose my job comes with benefits,” was the curt reply. He didn’t notice the small ball of green light in Futaba’s hands nor her glowing green eyes. She handed it back after looking at it for a moment longer, letting the glow in her eyes die down. “Here, you can have it back.”

Akira sighed. “Forgive her. She’s a bit,” Akira paused here to look for a proper word, “obsessed, let’s call it.”

Futaba playfully huffed. “You make it sound like a bad thing, but you’re forgetting where that got you.”

“Then, without any further ado, let us head in. Though, I am still stumped on what the distortion of the Palace could be…” Akechi’s hand came up to rest on his chin. “I’ve tried a variety of places involved with winning and battles, such as a colosseum, or like an arena, but those don’t seem to be it.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Makoto said, walking forward. She keyed in the person and location into the Nav on her phone, looking back once she finished. “This isn’t a battle, it’s a game. And in a game, your odds of winning determine everything.”

“Casino.” She said out loud, and the Metaverse Navigator replied back.

_“Target found. Beginning navigation.”_

The world around them twisted. Before them was no longer the white courthouse, but a tall resort that glowed with neon lights. Large elaborate fountains decorated the entrance, lining a path laid with marble along with large, limestone pillars. Right beside the path was a large neon statue of what was assumed to be Sae holding a set of scales on one hand.

“How extravagant,” Akechi remarked. He then noticed the lack of clothing change. That meant that they weren’t perceived as enemies, which made sense. Sae wouldn’t perceive everyone in the courthouse to be enemies.

“Then let’s go.” Akira led the charge as they slowly made their way down the large path. However, halfway down, their clothing transformed into their Thief outfits. Akira made a weird noise.

“God, just make up your mind,” he whispered to himself, causing Queen next to him to nudge him. He gave a sheepish smile in return. Instead of walking in from the entrance, they easily found a vent to enter from by scaling the walls nearby.

Joker then got a proper look at Akechi’s outfit and suppressed a grin. He knows he was supposed to be professional, but that mask is…well, Skull seemed to be thinking of the same thing, if his shaking shoulders were any indication.

“We’ll need a codename for Akechi going forth, no?” Mona asked, stopping everyone once they made it past the vents. They then all turned to Akechi, who was deep in thought.

“Well, how about Crow?” The detective suggested, and without any complaints, went with it. It was probably the fastest they had decided on code names. It wasn’t going to last anyway, so it was fine for its purposes.

“Crow it is. Now, let’s go.”

The Thieves moved with grace, easily jumping from one platform to another without any issues or disturbing the large chandelier they were on. They were used to this at this point, so parkour and acrobatics were a skill that most of them could say they were familiar with. They made it across and entered the small vent by the locked door at the end of the chamber.

They emerged in the room opposite but instantly froze at the layered voice of a Shadow.

“I know you’re there, you petty thieves. Come on down.”

Joker’s gaze turned over to the feminine voice. Sure enough, it was the ruler of the Palace, Sae’s Shadow. She looked much different from the Sae they knew, with heavy makeup and an outfit that made Queen feel offended that it was even on her sister’s body. The Thieves went down, warily approaching the Palace owner.

“Welcome to my casino. To reach me, you would need to win. Do you have what it takes to turn victory in your favor?” Sae let out a dark laugh. Walking past them without another word, she got into the elevator in the middle of the room and headed upwards. When the Thieves tried to follow her, however, they were blocked at the console.

“Members only? Seems like we need to get a member's card…” Oracle muttered, looking at the console.

“Let’s go around and see what we can get.”

Right as they were about to leave, however, they were immediately ambushed by a Shadow. It formed into a humanoid cheetah with a green cape and two swords. Joker took this chance to test Crow’s abilities.

“Crow, Queen, Noir, up front!” The three members called rushed forward, weapons at the ready. Crow grinned and ripped off his mask.

“Allow me to demonstrate my power! Robin Hood, Kougaon!” Light gathered from Robin Hood’s bow, concentrating at the tip, much like Apollo. Robin Hood fired it straight at the creature, blasting it into dust. Crow gave a satisfied smirk, while everyone else refrained from making comparisons.

“Sure, it was powerful, but Sky would easily stomp him….” Oracle muttered to herself from inside Necronomicon. The damage output from Sky’s Solar Flare was a substantial amount more than Crow’s Kougaon, not to mention Sky’s casting speed. Apollo was able to launch multiple attacks with quick succession and deadly accuracy, whereas Robin Hood seems to be lacking in speed and distance. Clearly, Apollo was by far the better archer.

And not just that, but also a better healer. Robin Hood might have some recovery abilities and access to resurrecting spells, but Apollo had Sun’s Gift, a healing ability that outclassed almost all healing spells that the entire party owned. Apollo also had better resistances and defenses. Statistically, there was almost no chance for Robin Hood to even stand up to Apollo.

“Maybe I'm just too used to seeing Apollo’s raw power…” Mona muttered to himself.

“Alright, let’s continue on.”

~~~

Hikaru hummed a soft tune, taking a sip from his mug of coffee and watching the team’s progress on his screen. They had managed to get to the high-access floor already, just within a week. They were definitely not pressed for time to finish the Palace. Across from him, Haru whistled, impressed. It was technically her first time seeing what Hikaru could do in terms of monitoring.

“Do you just watch us while we go in?”

Hikaru made a noise and shrugged. “Kind of? I might be busy with Shido’s Palace, so maybe not live, but I do watch the footage Futaba gave me later. Plus, Akechi’s…kinda weak, isn’t he?”

“Yes, that’s what I thought. He seemed to not really be that strong, where if all of us go against him, we could easily beat him…” Haru muttered. “I don’t want to underestimate him, however, so I suppose this is just all talk.”

“Fair enough.” Hikaru took a sip and placed the mug down. “By the way, how is your father doing?”

Haru’s face lit up at that. “He’s slowly recovering, but he had apologized properly when he woke up. He said that he was sorry he had become such a bad father, and that he would cancel the arranged marriage immediately. The look on Sugimura’s face was amazing, let me tell you.”

Hikaru smiled. “Well, that must be a relief.”

“You have no idea. I roasted the hell out of him when he left!” Hikaru laughed at Haru’s statement.

Haru giggled as well, leaving the atmosphere bright and cheerful. However, Hikaru knew what Haru was thinking at that moment.

“…You don’t really like Akira, do you?”

Haru stiffened but nodded slowly. “Is it really that obvious?”

“No, not really. I just can read minds.”

Haru sighed, looking down. “It’s just hard for me to properly enjoy his presence, especially what he did to you. You’re someone I trust, Hikaru. You saved me when I thought everything was lost, so I owe you so much, basically my life. That’s why I’m so angry at what he did to you. Even now, the fact that he’s not doing anything to try and make it up to you is annoying me. Why can’t he just take responsibility?”

Hikaru got up and went around the table, taking a seat next to Haru. “I’m not going to lie to you. It is annoying, and it pisses me off. But you have to think about his feelings as well. He had just hurt his boyfriend for no reason, without him being aware of it. He would naturally feel scared to even come near me at all, no?”

“So I don’t fault him. It’s not his fault.” Hikaru leaned back in his seat. “If only I could hate him for it…that would’ve made things a lot less complicated between us two.”

“You really are kind,” Haru remarked with a smile. “Too kind, perhaps.”

Hikaru gave a sad chuckle. “Kind, but weak. I can’t do anything to even try to help Akira, and I can’t do anything to help you all right now. I messed up, and what Akira said that day was right. Because of my mistake, you all are in this situation.”

Haru’s hand rested on his arm, stopping him from continuing. “Never say that. The only reason why my father is alive is because of you. If you’re saying that’s a mistake, then are you saying he should have died that day?”

“…Sorry. It’s still a sore spot for you, isn’t it?”

“A bit, but I think it will always be, how close he was to death that day. As much as I hated him during that time, I would never wish for him to die. He is still the person who had raised me since I was young, caring for me in a way that no one else could replicate.”

“Same here, really.” Hikaru thought to his father’s strict but worrying tone when he had called after he was kidnapped. Behind the strict businessman of the Aozora was a caring father, who just wanted to make sure his son was safe.

Haru snorted. When Hikaru asked what was wrong, she replied, “Now we sound like kids with daddy issues.”

Hikaru laughed, brightening the atmosphere once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apollo's about a 72 right now, just fyi.


	38. Testing and Promises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost at the end.

The sun was setting, dying the sky a vibrant orange. There weren’t any clouds, nothing disturbing the view. Normally, on such a day, most people would pause, even for a moment, to just admire the sheer beauty of the environment. It was rare that a day ended so beautifully, almost magically.

Of course, the keyword here being most people.

Hikaru ran past the gathering crowd, a sharp determination in his eyes. Grabbing his hand and trailing him was Futaba. They quickly weaved in between the large crowd by the entrance of the mall, causing grumbles and sneers in their direction, but neither of them were paying any attention. After all, they were here on a mission.

Today was the day the new Pokémon game was released.

The two of them rushed to the game store, slightly out of breath. Already, there was a long line of people waiting for the store to release the new game. The heir swore silently, queueing up with Futaba beside him.

“Fuck, I thought this was supposed to be not that crowded! No one comes to this store because it’s supposed to be overpriced as hell!” Futaba whined. The store was hidden in one of the higher-end malls, which most people tend to avoid due to the insane price tags on their games.

“No one comes here! It’s always empty! Why the fuck are there so many people?!” Hikaru whisper yelled.

Clearly, they underestimated how desperate people were for adorable monsters that they can befriend.

They waited for a few minutes before they were allowed to go into the store, and they immediately bolted towards the shelf in the middle of the store, stock full of cartridges of Pokémon Sword and Shield.

“Grab Sword for me!” Futaba yelled while Hikaru pushed his way in between the crowd in an attempt to snatch a copy of both Sword and Shield.

It was a mess. Hikaru and Futaba quickly paid for their game and got out, hearing a loud crash and screaming behind them as they left. They didn’t look behind, quickly getting out of the vicinity.

They stopped by an empty café, heading in to sit down for a while and to open their new games.

“You wanna bet if I could do a speedrun of the game in a day?”

Hikaru looked at Futaba like she grew an extra head. “People don’t do speedruns on their first go. What the fuck is wrong with you? Appreciate the game, you heathen.”

“It’s a tradition at this point. I speedrun the first round, and properly appreciate it the next round, catching as much and trying my best to complete the Pokédex. I started doing this when X and Y came out.”

Hikaru continued staring at Futaba weirdly. “…I don’t know you.”

“Hey, don’t diss it when you haven’t tried it!”

“I know what sounds like a bad idea, Futaba. Normal people do your idea the opposite way. Enjoy first, and then speedrun. Why can’t you be normal?” Hikaru asked, but with a grin.

Futaba grinned as well. “I prefer the word special, Hikaru.”

“I hate you,” Hikaru said, meaning the total opposite and Futaba knows it. She made a weird happy noise, making Hikaru laugh.

“You’re actually like a gremlin, you know?”

“Yes, Akira has called me that before. I appreciate the title,” Futaba responded with pride.

Hikaru’s face turned a slight bit somber. “How is he, by the way? Did you guys tell him everything?”

Futaba, sensing that they were going into a more serious topic, stopped joking around. “Yeah, most of it. He seemed on board with it, trusting your plan. ‘Hasn’t failed us yet’, he said.”

Hikaru thought to himself silently. “…He’s really dying of guilt, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. Ryuji came over a week ago, a few days after all of this blew up, to try and comfort him as well as tell him about what you wanted without dragging him further in guilt. It ended as well as you expect.” Futaba gave a sigh. “He still isn’t feeling his best, if his mistakes in the Palace prove anything. He just can’t seem to keep his mind in one place.”

“That’s…” Hikaru still can’t exactly remove the feeling that this was his fault to begin with, even if everyone tells him otherwise. He had to take responsibility for this. “Do you think he’d want me to meet him?”

“I don’t know about that, but something will definitely change. Good or bad, I have no idea. I say do it, you madman.”

Hikaru gave a wry smile. “If nothing changes until the few days before the deadline, then I’ll do something. We can’t have him distracted and lost during the plan, or it’s his life at forfeit.”

“Fair. Also, I need you to come with me to test out the location in a few days, after we finish infiltrating the Palace. I need to do a test run with my actual laptop to see if I can do it cleanly.”

“Got it.”

~~~

It was a week before the deadline.

The Thieves had finished infiltrating the Palace and were waiting on Akechi to send the calling card. Akechi had asked they do it on November 18th, and they were in no position to refuse.

Hikaru sang softly as he got dressed and left the hotel. They were supposed to meet by the courthouse, where they could enter into Sae’s Palace and test the plan. They had no idea where Akira might be moved to, but it would clearly make sense for him to be brought to the detainment center beside the courthouse for the moment. That’s really all they need.

Hikaru managed to make it to the courthouse once again without anyone noticing. Every time he does that, he wonders if people are just so unaware of their surroundings in this digital age, or is it just him blending in too well? He wasn’t even that disguised, really. Nothing about his face changed except for eye colour, and as such a public figure, wouldn’t someone have noticed?

“Hey,” Hikaru said, approaching the three teens by the side of the building.

“You’re here,” Makoto replied. “Then, let’s get going.”

They entered the Palace and ignored it, heading to the detainment center opposite of the courthouse. Sure enough, the interior looked almost the same, albeit a bit dulled. The room was lighted well, and if one didn’t pay too much attention, looked almost identical.

Hikaru rested his hand on a wall and sent out a wave that passed through the entire building. Almost instantly, a floor plan appeared in front of everyone, outlining the important parts of each room on every floor. Upstairs seems to be mainly the corporate part of the building, with offices and meeting rooms and the like. Prisoners were mostly in the basement, deep underground.

“This way.” Hikaru led them towards the elevator, and, strangely enough, it worked. Electricity seemed to be present in the Metaverse, or, well, maybe just Sae’s cognition of it working allowed the elevator to run. Either way, they weren’t complaining.

“This is…not what I expected.” Makoto’s face scrunched up as the elevator doors opened, welcoming them to the basement a few feet underground. The hallway was dark but still visible. The walls were metal, with no decorations or any sort of furniture at all.

“The interrogation room is at the end of the hallway.” Hikaru walked down, opening doors as he went. The rooms were mostly empty, some having a mattress and a toilet, that’s it. Bare minimum. All of them, however, had cameras in the corner watching their every action.

The final room in the hallway had a table and two chairs facing each other. Other than that and the camera, totally empty.

“This place is quite sad…isn’t it?” Yusuke said, looking around. “It feels so detached, as if this place is an alternate realm, almost.”

“Futaba?” Hikaru looked back. The girl nodded, flipping open her laptop. She first disrupted the cameras with her powers and then attempted to access someone’s phone with her laptop.

Makoto’s phone vibrated, and they felt the familiar feeling of slipping out of the Metaverse. However, the room remained the same: empty, surrounded by metal walls, with a table and two chairs.

“Seems to work fine.” Another press on her keyboard, and they were back in the Metaverse. “Now, we just need to test if Shadows will appear based on her cognition. That one, we’d have to wait for the day of the plan to test. But we have to make sure that Akechi doesn’t realize he’s in the Metaverse.”

“Cognitive Akechi will be here, no?” Yusuke asked.

“As soon as Sae realizes that he’s supposed to be here. We’ll need someone monitoring him, or just get rid of him entirely.” Futaba shrugged. “Your choice. If we’re taking him out, it’ll be better to just find him and do it now.”

“…Hikaru?” Makoto asked, turning towards the heir. Hikaru snorted and pressed a hand against the wall. Taking a deep breath, he sent out another wave, this one not stopping until it had covered the entire district.

“He’s in the police station. Let’s go.” The three Thieves followed their leader, who began whistling as he got out of the building, wandering down the street to the next building down the block. The whistling echoed in the empty city, making the atmosphere seem almost eerie.

Hikaru snapped his fingers, forming orbs of light around him, dancing and bouncing to the rhythm of his whistling. Everyone else watched with amusement at the heir, who was totally absorbed in the music to not even realize he was being stared at.

As they got closer to the station, they heard muttering. Looking over, it seemed that a faceless Shadow had just walked by them. It didn’t attack, didn’t even seem to notice their presence. It just walked past, head down, silent. Hikaru hummed. Seems like this was how Sae views people around her. Faceless, constantly whispering something she could never hear, but human regardless.

“That’s…scary.” Futaba shuddered, leaning closer towards Hikaru’s back. The whispers brought back bad memories. It reminded her of the whispers of her mind, saying things that she could never hear but could understand based on their tone. Harsh, accusatory, angry.

The closer they got, the more Shadows there were. Right outside the station, there was almost a mass gathering of them. It seems that Sae believes that there is always a ton of people at the police station, with issues that constantly needs solving.

The Thieves looked at each other, and with determined nods, entered.

“I’m telling you, Sae-san, you’re too tense!” Akechi’s relaxed voice sounded across the room. The detective was at a desk, facing away from the Thieves. He was laying back in his office chair, vest and top button of his shirt undone, tie uneven. He was talking on his phone. “Just chill for a bit, why don’t you? Stressing this much is just going to give you a ton of wrinkles, you know? Everything solves itself, anyways.”

A vein popped on Makoto’s forehead. “This guy…”

Yusuke, however, seemed more curious. “Hmm, is this really how Sae-san perceives Akechi as? A lazy good-for-nothing detective?”

“Well, from her perspective, Akechi’s just doing random guesses, and all of them work out. He’s basically handed the case on a silver platter. She doesn’t know he’s the instigator behind most of these, so she just assumes he’s too easygoing and that he’s not doing actual work,” Futaba replied. She then turned to Hikaru. “So, what’s the call? Destroy him, or just tie him up somewhere?”

“Would destroying him even work?” Makoto asked. “Wouldn’t he just come back, like all the other Shadows in the Palaces we have gone through?”

“But he still will be gone for long enough. He will come back, definitely, as long as Sae sees him as a part of her life. We just need him gone long enough to carry out the plan and eliminating him here should be good enough.” Futaba closed her laptop, letting out a sigh. “Then again, the choice is with all of you. We don’t have Personas so we’ll have to fully rely on your own abilities.”

“Do we know how strong he is?” Yusuke asked, and Futaba nodded, forming a monitor in front of her. The stats of Akechi appeared, along with possible attack patterns and weaknesses. He would take the form of a Belphegor, with a weakness to Fire and resistances to Ice, Nuclear, and Curse attacks. That was two-thirds of the party’s elements.

“He’s quite weak compared to the Shadows in Sae’s Palace, though. Extremely weak.” Futaba pulled out a comparison to a common Shadow in Sae’s Palace, a Kushinada. Akechi was a whole tier below them, with only second-tier Ice and Curse spells, which the party resisted, and Hikaru nullified.

“I suppose…we could try?” Makoto muttered. “Fighting without our Personas is a bit worrying, however…It would be the first official battle we have that we used our abilities to their full potential.”

“Well, that’s decided.” Before any of them could react, Hikaru had waved his fingers. The balls of light that surrounded him earlier ran into each other, forming a long spear of light on his right. Hikaru then snapped his fingers, launching the spear of light straight through Akechi’s body.

The Shadow gasped and turned around with a glare. “Who the hell do you all think you are?!” A familiar dark aura surrounded him, and Akechi began to melt into the Belphegor that Futaba had predicted.

Makoto sighed. “Hikaru, next time a warning would be appreciated, don’t you think?” She charged up her fists with nuclear energy and dashed forward into melee range. She attacked with practiced efficiency, landing strong and clear hits on the Shadow.

It growled as the energy from Makoto’s fists corroded its skin, revealing the dark flesh underneath. The Shadow summoned icicles all around it, and with a grin, launched them at point blank at Makoto, who was trying to disengage safely.

“I agree with Makoto. However, I suppose, given the scenario, I can see the benefits.” A thick wall of ice materialized between Makoto and the icicles, blocking everything. Yusuke walked by and tapped the ice wall, melting both it and the numerous shards of ice embedded into it.

“You little…” Shadow Akechi cursed, red eyes glowing. He charged up another attack, this time a Curse attack, in his hands. “You’ll regret getting in my way!”

Hikaru, however, had his back turned to the Shadow. He was talking to the Thieves. “Well, if it’s a sneak attack, we have to be sneaky about it, right?” He said with a grin.

The Shadow growled even louder. “How dare you ignore me!” It roared, unleashing a beam of dark energy towards Hikaru. The beam got closer and closer, but Hikaru didn’t seem worried at all.

At the last possible moment, Hikaru turned around with an annoyed sigh. “Don’t you know it’s rude to interrupt a conversation?”

Bright light emanated from him, dissipating the beam without any effort at all. The Belphegor couldn’t evade the flash of light in time and shrieked as he felt the light burn him across his body. He began swaying, barely staying afloat.

“Was the dramatics really necessary?” Makoto asked with an eyebrow raised. Hikaru gave her a cheeky grin and Makoto responded with a groan. She took a deep breath and formed a ball of pure nuclear energy in her palms, slowly growing it until it was the size of a beach ball.

“Let’s end this.” She threw the ball upwards and watched as it hovered above her, morphing into a beam that launched straight for the Shadow’s body. It tore through the Belphegor cleanly, dissolving the innards entirely and dissipating the Shadow cleanly.

Makoto cracked her knuckles and shook her hands, loosening her joints. “But still, punching a Shadow bare-handed without knuckles doesn’t exactly feel good.”

“…Well,” everyone turned to Futaba, who looked at them, shocked. “I was going to say that we should be prepared, but that ended…more quickly than I thought it would.”

“I will admit, I have been practicing in my own time,” Makoto said, slightly embarrassed. “I felt like my ability is the most dangerous in the real world, so I wanted to make sure I had it properly in control.”

That made sense. To the Phantom Thieves, nuclear energy was a common attack that they faced. Their Personas had built-in resistances to different elements, and even if it wasn’t resisted, it reduced the damage enough that they won’t suffer major damages. However, to normal humans, nuclear magic is deadly, and even coming into close proximity is enough to be lethal.

“Yusuke, your excuse?”

“Morgana has mentioned multiple times that my specialty in the creative arts helps hone my mind, which improves my control. Perhaps that is where my innate strength comes from.” Yusuke replied.

Futaba made a weird noise. “…And I guess Hikaru’s just broken.”

The heir shrugged in response.

“From what I’ve seen, all three of you are the best in terms of using your powers, right below Morgana who has a larger amount of experience. You all are even better than Akira, I would say,” Futaba said, pulling out a comparison chart.

“That might be true, but Akira has more of a strategical advantage with his versatility, no? We can only control an element each,” Yusuke responded, idly fiddling with a chunk of ice. “Elemental advantage is important in a battle as well.”

“True, but in raw power, you all have him absolutely destroyed. He’s more of a jack of all trades kind of person. But even still, Hikaru’s sheer power can easily outweigh all of that. Look at this,” Futaba said, showing them the chart.

It was a bar chart, ranking the Thieves in terms of their fighting strength with and without their Personas. It was measured in levels, much like a video game. “Just for my sake,” Futaba had said when Hikaru asked. “For comparison, a level 1 is like the weakest Shadow in Mementos. What we fought was about a 38.”

With their Personas, the party’s level was somewhat similar. They were all around the high-40s, with Akira in the low-50s. Without their Personas, however, Ryuji, Ann, and Haru were around a 34, Akira a 38, and Makoto and Yusuke were about a 42. Hikaru, on the other hand, dominated the chart. His ability without a Persona was a 61, and with Apollo a 73. It wasn’t even a competition.

Hikaru let out an impressed whistle. “That’s a big number.”

“You’re telling me? When you just did whatever the hell that was?”

Hikaru shrugged again. “Fair enough. But am I really that strong?”

Futaba gave him a deadpan. “You can solo-run Shido’s Palace, which I estimated to be way above our level before we entered Sae’s. Even Akechi, second Persona or not, is going to at least struggle, but you made it without a single scratch on you. In fact, you haven’t left the Metaverse with any injuries, big or small, since your Second Awakening, since Apollo’s healing is just that good. Not to mention his absolutely destructive firepower,” she said.

“Huh. When you put it like that…” Hikaru grinned.

Yusuke hummed with a smile. “I do have to acknowledge that. I have felt your overpowering presence multiple times, and I still haven’t witnessed a proper battle with your newfound abilities.”

“You haven’t?” Hikaru asked, slightly shocked. He then thought back to before Okumura’s Palace. The last time he properly fought with the Thieves was what, Futaba’s Palace? He went to Mementos with Mona a while after that, but yeah, he hasn’t properly shown all of them Apollo’s true power. “Yeah, I suppose you haven’t…” he muttered.

“Well, we can go on a Mementos run and I can show you?”

Makoto let out a hesitant hum. “I’m not too sure about this…do you really think we’ll be good enough to go into Metaverse without anyone else?”

Futaba looked at her like she had three heads. “Hikaru can take on the Reaper by himself. Do you really need anything more?”

“Well, I technically did it with Mona…” Hikaru muttered, but didn’t deny anything.

“…I suppose that’s fine?”

~~~

And here they were, in front of Mementos, a day later. Queen pulled out her phone to double check their list of targets, and with a sigh, turned to the rest of the party.

“Are we actually doing this? Shouldn’t we inform everyone else?”

“That’s what I’m here for, Queen,” Oracle said, tapping on her phone. “Plus, I want to properly gauge Sky’s power.”

“I do want to see Sky’s full strength. It is truly a source of uncontrollable curiosity,” Fox mused, stroking his chin. “If Oracle’s estimations are correct, then we surely have nothing to worry about.” They began entering the subway station.

“…The dangers of peer pressure, I guess,” Queen muttered to herself, but followed.

“Now, we don’t have a Mona-car, but we do have transport Personas.” Queen took a moment to feel offense at Anat being called “transport”. She summoned the red-faced demon, who morphed like a Transformer into his bike form, which was similar to Johanna but instead had his red face on the front.

Sky summoned Apollo and got on the chariot. He turned to Oracle and pulled her on the chariot. “Fox, ride with Queen. Follow our lead.”

The two navigators rushed forward, with the other two close behind. Sky didn’t seem to need any directions, somehow just finding his way as he traveled quickly without taking a look at a map or anything.

“Sky,” Oracle called out once they arrived at a floor quite deep down.

“Yeah, I feel it too.” He turned back to Queen and Fox. “Our target’s here, so keep an eye out!”

“Roger!”

They made their way to the first distortion on this floor. They didn’t hesitate at all before entering, only stopping to discuss in front of the platform. Queen dismounted, Fox hopping off. “So, how are we doing this?”

“I’m going to trust you all to make proper attacks and calls for yourself. Fair enough?” No opposition to Sky’s suggestion. The replacement leader shrugged and walked forward, orbs of light once again forming around him. The two attackers flanked him, while Oracle stayed to the back.

“I’m guessing you three won’t really need battle tactics?” When Sky shook her head, she sighed, “then support I go. Let me get set up real quick.” The redhead summoned Necronomicon, hopping in to charge up some support spells. With that, they were ready to face the Shadow in front of them.

It was a schoolgirl, crouched on the ground. “…No, it has to be me, right? He has to love me, right?”

Sky sighed. “Another case of rejection, huh?”

“That sadly seems to be a main source of distortion around our age. But they seem to be obsessed on the negatives of it,” Fox remarked, looking at the girl with pity in his eyes. “What a fleeting emotion, love is.”

“But this seems to be on a whole new scale of obsession,” Queen replied, getting in battle position. “Sky, what do we have to watch out for?”

“What indeed…” Sky whispered. The girl looked up, and with a choked sob, reached out towards Sky. Sky grabbed her hand, and gently lowered it. The girl choked up again, eyes widening and turning red.

“No, not again! Why does everyone not stay with me?!”

The dark aura around her surrounded the girl, bursting out in a moment into a dark beast. The girl took the form of a small, blond girl in a velvet dress, holding tightly onto a teddy bear. Black tears streaked down her face.

“Why does nobody love me?!”

Dark energy exploded from the Shadow, pushing the other Thieves away. Sky remained where he was, surrounded by the black magic that came from the Shadow. Creepy voices surrounded him, some whispering, some screaming. The cacophony rang heavily in his ears, but Sky maintained a neutral face.

“Sky!” Queen yelled in a panic, trying to fight back the Curse attack to no avail. She gritted her teeth, looking back to Oracle. “How do we get rid of this, Oracle?!”

“I don’t know!” was the panicked reply from within Necronomicon. “It formed into some sort of barrier…wait, watch out!”

Queen looked back at the orb to see a dark appendage shoot towards her. She was pushed out of the way by Fox, who took the attack with a gasp. The appendage withdrew, leaving no visible wounds. Fox crumbled onto his knees, gasping heavily.

“Fox, are you alright?!” Queen asked.

“What is this…constricting feeling? As if there is no point…” He gently lowered his sword onto the ground, sitting on the ground.

“Despair?! Queen, cure him, and we’ll need to help Sky! Who knows what he’s facing right now?!” Queen nodded, summoning Anat for an Energy Drop. Fox immediately snapped out of it as green light surrounded him, clearing the heavy fog in his mind.

“I apologize for that. How do we help Sky?”

“Just go for it? I don’t know, this Curse barrier doesn’t seem to break easily at all!” Oracle said in a panic. Should she call for an SOS? The Shadow interrupted her thoughts with a manic laugh.

“He’ll stay with me, like everyone else should’ve! Now there’ll be someone who loves me!”

Queen bit her lip, readying an attack position. What is she supposed to do in this situation? She wasn’t prepared at all…

“Apollo.”

Before their eyes, the barrier of darkness surrounding Sky seemed to tear like wet paper. Blinding light shone past, shredding the darkness easily. High-pitched shrieks could be heard from the whispers before. When it has dimmed, Sky remained standing where he had all that while ago, not having moved a single step at all. He turned his head over to the Shadow, who looked at him with wide eyes.

“How…” The Shadow whispered, falling back onto her butt.

“I’ve faced worse things than a rejection.” Queen felt a chill run down her spine at the heartbreak in Sky’s words. It seems that he hasn’t fully moved on from what happened as much as he seemed to be.

Sky slowly moved towards the Shadow, who backed up every time he moved forward until she hit the wall. She curled in and began sobbing, occasionally choking in fear. Sky kneeled in front of her, and raising a hand, rested it on her shoulder.

The Shadow flinched but calmed down once realize Sky wasn’t going to hurt her. “…Why don’t you get rid of me?”

“Because that’s not what I’m here for,” Sky replied.

“Then what is it? To leave me again? Just like he did?”

Sky sighed. “Rejection isn’t the end of the road. They just don’t understand what they lost. But getting obsessed is just proving their point. Are you going to confirm their doubts, or will you show them what they lost?”

“…But he was right. I became like this…” The Shadow vanished, revealing the schoolgirl once again. “Is it really so much to ask for someone to be there for me?”

“No, it isn’t. But that doesn’t mean you force people into it. You are kind, and you know that you truly can’t hurt anyone. All those attacks, none of them were actually damaging, were they?”

The girl curled up tighter, beginning to tremble. “…Even after everything, I still love him. I still want to be with him. How can I possibly hurt him?”

“Then cherish him. Respect him, treat him just like a friend. And when he finds someone else, that’s the hardest part.” Sky took a deep breath.

“You have to let him go, and you have to be happy for him.”

“…Okay.” The girl looked up and gave Sky a sad smile. “Thank you…”

She vanished in a blue light, leaving behind a broken pendant. Sky grabbed it with slight reluctance and turned back to the Thieves. All three present members were awkward, not knowing how to exactly break the tense atmosphere that had formed as Sky continued talking.

Oracle, the bravest out of all of them, or the most reckless, decided to speak first.

“…Sky, are you okay?”

Said member gave her a wry grin. “That depends on what you define as okay.”

~~~

It was the day of the plan.

Hikaru stood at the entrance of Leblanc, hesitant to enter. It was early in the morning, since he couldn’t sleep properly due to the nerves he felt. What was he supposed to say? Now that he was here, he’s getting a case of cold feet.

Well, just get it over with, he thought to himself.

He entered the café, greeted by the gentle ringing of a bell. Behind the counter, Sojiro looked at him and nodded. Hikaru took a seat in his usual booth. “Usual, please.”

“Coming up.”

No words were exchanged between the two men, the only sound in the room being the clinking of cups, the coffee brewing, and the white noise provided by the TV.

Sojiro came around the counter to hand him his coffee. “Futaba told me what happened that day. If you needed it, I could’ve let you stay with me,” he said without making eye contact.

Hikaru shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to be a bother, Boss. My father arranged something for me anyway, so I’m fine.”

“Well, offer doesn’t expire. You all helped Futaba as much as Akira did, it’s only fair that I do something for all of you. Most I can do now is just give you all a place to gather.”

“And that’s plenty. You’ve already done a lot just by being quiet. You could’ve just sold us out, or kick Akira out, but you chose to keep the secret. If no one has properly thanked you for that, let me be the first.” Hikaru stood up and bowed deeply.

Sojiro gave an awkward chuckle. “Well, believe it or not, I’ve grown attached. Plus, Futaba’s my daughter, so even if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t sell out the last thing Wakaba left me with.” He went back to the counter. “You know, you remind me of her so much, just like Futaba.”

“Really? Thank you,” Hikaru said shyly.

“If whatever happens with Akira doesn’t work out, you’re still welcome to come over anytime you like. All of you are,” Sojiro said with a smile.

Hikaru’s face brightened. “That’s definitely reassuring to know. Once again, we should thank you for all you’ve done for us.”

Sojiro chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. He’ll be down in a moment, so prepare yourself.”

They fell back into a comfortable silence, Hikaru slipping on his earphones and humming a soft tune. He then heard rustling coming from the attic above, a sign that Akira had woke up. Hikaru’s mouth tightened, but he stayed put. He took a sip of coffee to calm his nerves.

“Boss, do you mind leaving for a few moments?”

Sojiro hummed. “I’ll go take a smoke, then. Call me when you’re done. I still need to open shop.”

“This won’t take long,” Hikaru reassured him.

The café owner nodded and headed out, slipping off his apron and hanging it at the door. Just as the door closed, Hikaru heard the sound of footsteps making their way down the stairs. Akira turned the corner, Morgana close behind him.

“Sojiro, I-” Akira froze when he saw that Hikaru was the only one in the café.

“Hey.”

“…Hi.” Morgana took the chance to run back up, leaving Hikaru and Akira alone.

“Today’s the day. How are you feeling?” Hikaru started awkwardly, not knowing how to start the conversation.

Akira averted his eyes, looking at the floorboards. “…Nervous, obviously,” he replied softly.

They fell into an awkward silence, both of them avoiding eye contact with each other until one of them caved.

Hikaru did it first.

“…I hope you make it out.” Hikaru finished his coffee, standing and going over to Akira.

Akira slowly looked up, meeting Hikaru’s eyes. “…Me too.”

“I’ll be there in the Palace, but I can’t during the interrogation. I’ll still be nearby, though. If anything goes wrong, call for me, I’ll be there.” Akira gave him a thankful smile.

“That’s reassuring. Thanks, Hikaru.” Hikaru smiled as well.

He pulled Akira in for a quick hug, parting in a second. “Come back to me alive, Kira. We still need to talk through this.”

“…For you. I’ll make it, Hikaru.”

Hikaru nodded. He pressed a soft peck on Akira’s lips and turned away, leaving the store. The image of Akira’s fond smile burned in his mind, making him grin stupidly to himself.

A flame ignited in both their hearts, both swearing to return to the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, for all of you who're wondering if Hikaru and Akira really made up this fast. It's been almost a month, in game time. The possession was even earlier, before Okumura's Palace. I think it's enough time for both of them to think about everything properly.


	39. Interrogation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 11/20.

_We’ve made contact, Sky._

_“Good. The police force is already on standby by the entrance of the Metaverse. There’s quite a large number, from what I can see. No clean escape, not that we’ll need it.”_

_Roger. We’ll be engaging soon._

_We’ll make it out of this alive, right?_

_We have to. We gotta make sure our leader lives, yeah?_

_Indeed. It would be a tragedy should we fail._

_We must do this, for the sake of everyone that man has killed, and attempted to do so. For my father._

_Right. Thanks, just needed a pep talk._

_Is everyone ready? Last preparation check. Roll call._

_Skull, ready to bust ass!_

_Panther, feeling great!_

_Mona, ready for backup._

_Fox, at your command._

_Queen, let’s do this._

_Oracle, no abnormalities detected._

_Noir, ready as I’ll ever be!_

_“Sky, right behind all of you.”_

_Then let’s go. Phantom Thieves, time for the heist of our lives!_

~~~

The night sky was brightly lit with neon and spotlights, the casino bustling with activity, especially tonight. Sky laid in wait, watching the Thieves fight against the monstrosity that is Sae’s Shadow form. Crow, Joker, Panther, and Fox were on the front lines, with Queen, Skull, and Noir providing backup. The fight was heavily in the Thieves’ favor, them most likely not even needing any support from him. He breathed, taking another look off the building. He was currently just idly sitting, his legs dangling off of the roof.

From where he was perched, he could easily see the flashing lights of police sirens and spotlights that were turned off. It was a huge unit that consisted of military personnel as well. The navigator bit his lip.

“Apollo, give me vision.” A screen appeared in front of him, giving him different views of the armed force. On his own, he feels like he would have little to no problem in escaping, but he couldn’t do anything to disrupt this. It was important that Joker get caught.

Sky took a shaky breath.

By all technicalities, he didn’t even need to be here. If anything, he should be going further into Shido’s Palace. He’s already managed to get two letters, and could probably go for a third if he had gone today. However, he needed to see this moment in person.

Shadow Sae’s shriek snapped Sky out of his thought process. The Shadow collapsed, morphing back into the form of Sae. The woman groaned, slumping onto her knees. Queen immediately rushed to her side, while Skull and Fox broke off from the group.

Sky followed the other two, leaping down from the roof towards the small platform where the Treasure had formed.

“According to plan?” he asked when the two Thieves turned the corner. They both nodded, Skull grabbing the briefcase that was lying in wait by the Treasure.

“Doesn’t seem like he suspects anything,” Skull said, Fox nodding in agreement.

“He seems to not notice anything at all. Everything is as planned.”

Sky nodded. “Then go. I’ll meet you all later, once he’s gone. Come back in once you guys have split for the day.”

“Understood, Sky. Come, Skull, before Crow suspects anything.”

The two of them left, taking the fake Treasure. Sky looked at the true Treasure, a small brown leather-bound notebook. Makoto had said that her sister’s sense of justice arose from her father’s passing and wanting to imprison those who were responsible. This must’ve been his journal or notebook.

Sky hummed and left without touching the Treasure.

Alarms rang throughout the casino, showing that everything was on high alert. Oracle had pulled up multiple displays in a panic, reading off abnormal stats and numbers. Of course, they all knew it was coming, so it was all an act.

They had split up, with Joker sprinting in the opposite direction with the briefcase while everyone else went down the way they entered. Sky trailed Joker’s path, a throwing knife readied in his hands. He needed to make sure that Joker wasn’t in danger if he went alone so that he could get captured by the police.

 _“I’m trailing you, Joker. Readings heading towards you from the front.”_ Sky saw Joker give a nod of his head to show that he heard the message. Just as he turned the corner, Shadows erupted from the ground, forming into two bull-headed beasts with bronze bodies. They roared, immediately shooting high-energy beams of fire straight at Joker.

The nimble leader leaped out of the way, pulling out his pistol and taking out one of them with a few well-placed shots. The other one found a throwing knife launched straight at it, piercing its skull and killing it immediately. In just a moment, both Molochs were eliminated. Joker continued on without looking back, knowing that the navigator was behind him, hidden from view.

They climbed up the stairs, heading to the area above the main lobby. The fake guests of the casino were in a panic, slowly being ushered out by the staff. None of them noticed the commotion above them.

Joker jumped onto the chandelier above the slot machines, looking around for a way out.

_Sky, position?_

_“All around you.”_

Just as Sky responded, the door across from him and behind him burst open, men in suits entering. They slowly approached the chandelier, leaving Joker with no way of escape.

_I need a flash!_

An orb of light shot towards Joker, who shot it with his pistol. He quickly averted his eyes as the orb exploded into blinding light, quickly moving once the light was no longer blinding him. He jumped onto the railing and ran across the room. There was no door there, only a stained-glass window.

_“You always had a flair for dramatics.”_

Joker grinned, saluting the guards. He then jumped through the window, turning into a somersault to land perfectly on his feet outside the casino. He wasn’t done, however, once a spotlight shined on him.

He made a show of trying to escape, but he knew that there was no escaping this one. He pretended to struggle once the officer pinned him, slapping cuffs onto his wrists.

_“Stay safe, Joker. We’ll get you out.”_

~~~

“Joker’s captured!” Oracle yelled in a panic.

“What?!” Skull said in disbelief.

“No way!” Panther denied.

“Oracle, are you sure?” Queen asked calmly. The navigator gave her a shaky nod, biting her lip and holding back tears.

“Perhaps we should disperse for today, and discuss this some other time?” Crow suggested.

“No, we need to go after him!” Skull shouted angrily. “He’s one of us, damnit!”

“Skull, we can’t just go after Joker like that! We don’t even know how police got into the Metaverse!” Queen argued back.

“It pains me to say this, but Queen is right. Rushing into a battle we are unprepared for is asking to be captured as well. We must not be hasty,” Fox added.

Skull grumbled under his breath, fists clenched. “…Fine.”

“We’ll meet up some other day and find a way to get him back. For now, though, we need to get out of here, so that we won’t get captured as well.” Everyone gave nods and followed Queen’s lead.

The student council president led them out of the Metaverse, quickly taking cover at the large amount of police around the perimeter of the courthouse.

“Everyone, make sure to get out, and don’t get caught.” Silent nods.

_“Meet back there in half an hour. I’ll make sure Akechi’s gone.”_

The Thieves exchanged glances. All of them, sans Akechi, heard Hikaru’s command in their heads. With more subtle nods, they dispersed for the moment. Ryuji went with Ann, Makoto with Haru, and Futaba with Yusuke. They stayed in the area, idly window shopping or, in Haru and Makoto’s case, stopping for a nice cup of coffee. They waited until the command for them to regroup came.

_“He’s gone. Go in, I’ll meet you all there.”_

From where they were, the pairs entered the Metaverse, walking over to the entrance of the Palace. Hikaru was there, fiddling with some displays.

“Great, you all are here. Here’s where we are right now.” The heir flipped over a display, showing Akira’s current situation. He was being checked for weapons and other thieving tools while he was tied up. He was basically getting manhandled and harassed, which is a larger crime considering that Akira was legally still a minor. Any time he tried to resist, it resulted in a punch straight to the face.

“…” The Thieves remained silent, but their eyes burned with anger and determination.

“After this, he’s most likely going to be sent into confinement at the detainment center we checked out. I’ll see if I can come into contact or not, but I’ll need Futaba to come with me either way. We need camera disruption.” The hacker nodded.

“We can head over now,” Futaba suggested while attempting to crack into the detainment center’s security with her powers. “Just give me a moment and I can shut everything underground off.”

“No need, we’ll head in tonight when there’s no one in his cell. That way, we can make sure that there’s no one there when we head in.”

“Can we come along?” Ryuji asked. He wanted to make sure with his own eyes that Akira was fine.

“…Sorry, but I’d prefer not. The more people we bring, the higher our chance of capture. It’d be easier if it was just me and Futaba, since I can cover her easily. I get that you all want to make sure he’s fine, but it’s too much of a risk, especially since we don’t know when Akechi’s heading down there.”

Ryuji nodded solemnly, slightly dejected. He understood Hikaru’s reasoning, which doesn’t make it any less annoying.

“We’ll keep you all updated. Don’t worry,” Hikaru said with a smile. That somewhat reassured the rest, making them back down with tight smiles.

~~~

Shadows were all over the streets, all of them in a panic. The Palace they were in was infiltrated but remained standing. The Palace ruler was defeated, leaving an empty castle. This led to the Shadows within to be displaced, but still drawn to this region due to the distortion still present. The only place left for them was to wander the streets.

Two of them roared, seeing two humans walk in their direction, transforming and preparing to engage just to immediately dissipate after. Two knives made of bright light were lodged deep in their skulls, killing them instantly.

Hikaru huffed, forming two more knives as the previous two vanished along with the bodies. There was a set of six knives floating beside him, all pointed forward. As Shadows ran towards the two navigators, Hikaru would allow one knife to launch forward, two if he missed the head. It served mainly as target practice on moving targets, and he has yet to miss. Futaba was keeping track.

“Hey, Hikaru?” Futaba asked. Hikaru hummed inquisitively.

“Do you think this translates into in-game mechanics?” He let out another hum, this one pensive. He turned back to face the girl.

“Maybe? We can test it out with a shooter later?”

Futaba shrugged. Hikaru faced forwards and launched a knife into another Shadow’s skull. The girl beside him added another point to the growing tally of Shadows eliminated.

They soon arrived at the detainment center they explored a week ago. It still looked the same, but that was expected. They needed Sae to see Akira here to allow the cognitive Akira to form. Otherwise, it’d just be empty like before.

“Confinement cell…” Hikaru muttered to himself as he looked through the floor plan. It was a few doors away from the interrogation room, in the middle of the hallway.

They rode the elevator down to the basement and made their way to the room. Once inside, Hikaru double-checked Akira’s surroundings. There was no one present, just a ton of security cameras. With a nod to Futaba, all cameras in the building cut off.

“I’m guessing a few minutes before they solve the issue. Be safe, and let’s make it as fast as possible.” Hikaru nodded, and the two of them left the Metaverse, appearing in front of the slumped-over Akira.

“Akira?” The teen startled up when he heard Futaba’s voice.

“Futaba? Hikaru? What are you both doing here?!” He whispered urgently, looking around in a panic. Akira let out a soft sigh of relief when he noticed the deactivated cameras around him. He then turned back to the two navigators of the Thieves and asked again, this time calmer. “What are you doing here?”

“Just making sure you’re fine.” Hikaru’s face twisted. “And from what I can see, you’re not. At all.”

Futaba huffed, pulling up a display and clicking her tongue. “Yeah, not at all. Bruises all over, maybe even possibly internal bleeding. Probably a broken bone or two as well. Nose is definitely broken. And are those drugs in your blood?”

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Akira tried to reason, but silenced at the glares from Hikaru and Futaba.

Hikaru sighed, approaching Akira. “I can patch up the more serious ones, but I’ll have to leave the rest. If I heal everything, they’ll be suspicious.” He rested a hand on Akira’s bruised face.

“Sun’s Gift.”

His hand glowed a soft gold. Akira sighed, leaning into the touch further as he felt his bones gently realign, the pain normally felt suppressed. His mind also began to clear up, making it easier for him to think.

“Thanks,” Akira muttered once he felt the healing light die down.

“But sheesh, isn’t this all technically illegal? Police brutality, harassment, the charges go on…” Futaba whispered to herself. Hikaru’s expression tightened.

“We’re going against someone who has the police force at their beck and call. It doesn’t matter if it’s all illegal, as long as those outside his influence doesn’t notice. And Shido’s influence is massive.”

“They told me that I was betrayed. Honestly, even if we didn’t know from the start, it’s easy to guess who it is. We really could’ve just done this on the spot.” Akira said.

“Well, it’s better to be prepared.”

Futaba nudged Hikaru. “We’re running out of time.” She then turned to Akira. “Nice seeing you, we’ll hopefully see you tomorrow or the day after. Not sure when Sae gets her chance to interrogate you. I’ll have to double-check later.”

“I’ll be in this room during the interrogation. If anything goes wrong, just start screaming in your thoughts. I’ll come,” Hikaru added. Akira nodded, giving him a cheeky grin. Hikaru snorted.

“Damn it, this is a serious moment, Akira.”

The captured leader’s grin grew wider, stifled laughter ringing in his chest. Hikaru sighed, rolling his eyes with a fond smile on his face. He leaned in and kissed Akira on the forehead. The teen immediately silenced, face turning red.

“Aren’t you two supposed to be, you know, awkward as all hell?” Futaba complained. “I didn’t come here to witness some PDA.”

Both of them looked towards the disgusted hacker. Akira grinned. “Call it adrenaline, or maybe the drugs they pumped into me, but I’m feeling a bit weird and daring today.”

“I just am too exhausted to think about social problems.”

Futaba scoffed. “I can’t believe both of you. An actual match made in heaven.” They were then interrupted by an alert from Futaba’s computer.

“Alright, time to get out. We’ll see you around, Akira.” Futaba hurriedly pulled out her phone and activated the Nav, pulling Hikaru in with her.

~~~

Hikaru couldn’t sleep that night.

He was exhausted, it was quiet, it was late as all hell. It’s already one in the morning, and he should be fucking passed out at this time, but for some goddamn reason, he couldn’t just fall asleep.

He got up from his bed and went downstairs, heading into the kitchen. The lights were all off, but he preferred it that way. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t see anyways, and he was too lazy to go over to the switch.

He opened the fridge and squinted, rummaging through the fresh produce to find a can of soda or something. It was too late for coffee, so sugar it is. He muttered excitedly to himself when he found a can of grape soda, eyes still half-open.

Hikaru cracked it open, sighing softly. He went over to the large window, looking out again at the cityscape. He took a sip as he looked out into the neon lights, his tired mind naturally wondering about tomorrow’s events.

Futaba had informed him that Sae’s appointment was arranged to be around two in the afternoon, with Akechi coming in right after that. He would have to be down in the room at one or half past to be safe. That’s twelve hours from now. From there, he had no idea how long Akira’s recounting of everything was going to take, or however long Sae had to talk to him, whichever was shorter.

He would have to wait for Akechi to finish killing the Akira in the Metaverse and leave first then only could he move. Futaba had told him that he had to get Sae and Akira out via the Metaverse once Akechi left since the upstairs of the place was filled with guards on standby. From there, they needed to get to where Sae’s car was and head back to Leblanc from there.

Well, that was the plan, at least. Easy, really, Hikaru sarcastically thought to himself.

Hikaru sipped his soda, letting out a soft sigh. The worst-case scenario would be that he ran into Akechi, and that would most likely devolve into a brawl. Hikaru wasn’t exactly worried about fighting Akechi, but if it came to that, he needed to take the fight into the Palace, so that he could use Apollo’s full power. Once he had that, the fight would be in the bag, Loki or not.

Akechi would also realize at that point that they are in the Metaverse, and that puts the whole operation at risk of failure. That was the problem with him just taking on Akechi.

Hikaru’s mouth pulled into a frown. A lot of things were at risk.

He stood there for a moment, looking out into the night sky. There were some clouds, and the light pollution from the city made it impossible to see the stars.

He then had a brilliant idea. If he couldn’t see the stars, why don’t he make his own?

A trail of lights blinked into existence with a wave of Hikaru’s arm, glowing dimly in the dark room. They flowed up towards the ceiling, taking their place on the imaginary night sky of the room. Hikaru let out a content hum as the lights flickered, some brightening and some dimming to give the appearance of them twinkling.

Hikaru took another sip of his soda and headed upstairs, placing the rest of the unfinished soda back in the fridge on his way. He laid back in his bed and once again, tried to fall back asleep.

This time, it came easily.

~~~

A sense of nerves overcame Hikaru as he entered the detainment center in the Metaverse. It was almost time for Sae to arrive for her interrogation of Akira. He had been watching Akira since he woke up, and he wasn’t sure Akira was fine at all.

The leader had been drugged with what they had called a truth serum but was really more of just a reason to get Akira high as all hell. They weren’t gentle in the administration either, leaving heavy bruises and broken bones once again. Now, Hikaru was just worried that Akira might be too out of it to convince Sae.

He went down the elevator, double-checking if the hallway was empty in reality. He went into the confinement room and took a seat on the chair in the middle of the room.

Now, he played the waiting game.

Another look at the hallway in reality and he saw a familiar woman walking. Sae was here, so that meant Akira was already moved to the interrogation room. He tried diving into Akira’s thoughts, but everything was just fuzzy as hell. Hikaru clicked his tongue. He then pulled up a display of the room in general, listening to both sides of the conversation.

“Uhh…how did all of this start again?”

For the next hour or so, Hikaru listened to Akira as he said his thoughts out loud and stumbled through the recounting of his tale, with occasional questions from Sae. He did manage to not mention the names of anyone involved, instead mainly just using codenames. And his brain on drugs had decided to say the stupidest shit.

“Yeah, Sky really saved us all…Did I mention I was dating him?”

“Yes, you have.” Hikaru huffed, stifling a chuckle at Sae’s frustration.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s nothing. Now, moving on…”

Five minutes later, during the recounting of the Kaneshiro battle, he did it again.

“Sky kinda got his ears blasted, and went like deaf for the rest of the battle, but hell, the look of determination on his face was like,” Akira clicked his tongue twice, giving a cheeky grin. “Top tier.”

Sae stared at him, slightly tired. “In the past half an hour, you’ve commented on the attractiveness of your partner a total of five times.”

“Not my fault he’s just a fine piece of man.”

Turns out Akira was the type of person to get horny when he was high. Interesting to note.

This happened a few more times, Hikaru eventually just cackling loudly every time Akira said something absolutely retarded.

_“Futaba, you’re listening to this shit, right?”_

_Oh yeah, I have it recorded. I thought this was going to be serious, but holy shit, this is just meme material right here. I’m so clowning him once he gets out. Oh, and Sae’s time’s almost up. Akechi’s about to arrive._

Hikaru’s laughter quickly died down. He turned his attention back to the conversation in the interrogation room.

“Going forward, I will read a list of people who have been closest to you and this case. Tell me honestly whether or not they were involved in the Phantom Thieves.”

Akira nodded.

“Alright. First, the friend who has been with you since the start of your time in Shujin, Ryuji Sakamoto.” Akira shook his head. Sae, seemingly a bit disgruntled, continued.

“One of the main victims in the Kamoshida case, Ann Takamaki.” Another shake of his head.

“The pupil of Ichiryusai Madarame, Yusuke Kitagawa.”

“The daughter of Wakaba Isshiki, Futaba Sakura.”

“The heiress to the Okumura Foods legacy and daughter of its CEO, Haru Okumura.”

“And finally…the frequently probing student council president of Shujin, Makoto Niijima.”

Akira shook his head to all of them, and then noticed something off about the list. “That’s only seven including me. Didn’t I tell you there were nine of us in total?”

“That’s true. Of the ones you mentioned, I’m not able to match who Sky and Mona were. Mona is, if your story is true, not a human, but Sky remains an enigma to me. Your mystery lover.”

Akira hummed, feeling the fog in his mind beginning to clear up. “Yeah, I don’t think you would. Once proper investigations went down, it was hard for anyone to get into contact with him, even for us.”

“…What an elusive character,” Sae replied. She shook her head a moment after. “No matter. Even if I had a guess, you would deny it anyway, wouldn’t you?” she said with exasperation.

“You got me.”

“Alright, fine. If not them, then there must be people in town that helped in your process of changing hearts. Will you not tell me any of them?”

Akira gave her a deadpan. “What do you think?”

Sae sighed. “Fine. It seems you have no plan of making a deal with me.”

“Oh, I do have a deal for you, Prosecutor.” Sae raised an eyebrow at that, but her face remained stern.

“Go on.” Her voice betrayed her curiosity.

“We know who betrayed us. That’s why we would like your help.”

“You know who the traitor is?!” She slammed her palms on the metal table. “Tell me!”

“You already know who it is. You see him every day,” Akira said, giving Sae a Cheshire grin. The prosecutor went silent in thought and gasped after a moment.

“You mean him…?” Akira nodded.

“We know that he was the one who framed us. We didn’t commit the mental shutdowns, it was him. That’s why we need your help in taking him down,” Akira gestured over to his phone, on Sae’s side of the desk, “by showing him that.”

“Showing him this? Your phone? What’ll that do?”

“Just trust me for now. Everything will be explained.” Sae’s eyebrow jumped up once again, but she chuckled. A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. A gruff voice came after.

“Your time’s up, Niijima!”

“…You know what, at this point, I don’t even know if I believe you. But there’s the small chance that everything you told me, this whole fairy tale of a testimony, is all fact. If that’s the case, then I feel foolish for allowing such a chance to slip away.” Sae gave Akira a grin of her own. Akira responded by bowing his head.

“Very well. I’ll place my bet on you.” She slipped his phone into her handbag and got up.

On her way out, her eyes widened as she saw who came in. The young detective on the other side gave her a smile and a wave. “Akechi? How did you get in here? I had to get special clearance to even be allowed down here!”

“Well, I am the head of the operation. Makes sense that I’m let down here, no?”

Sae let out a silent groan. “You’re in charge?” she muttered under her breath. “Regardless, didn’t you personally say that the Thieves were innocent?”

“Oh, that was just a way for me to get on their side. I forgot that most people had fallen for my trick. To trick your enemies, you have to trick your allies first, I guess.” Akechi chuckled.

Sae rolled her eyes. Now was the time. She reached into her bag, pulling out Akira’s phone. “Does this mean anything to you?”

A small tremor ran across her skin, making her pause momentarily. From what she could see, Akechi felt the same. Strange.

“…What is this?” Akechi asked curiously once he snapped out of it.

“It’s the phone of the Phantom Thieves’ leader. I thought you might need it for your investigation,” Sae replied. Akechi gave it a curious glance but ultimately shook his head.

“No need. I was acting alongside the Thieves, remember?”

Sae shrugged, pocketing the phone once again. “I suppose. Have a good day, then.” She left, but just a moment later, she felt the same tremor again. “…What is happening?” she whispered to herself.

She was about to leave when a beep from Akira’s phone stopped her. She had received two voice messages from a Phantom Thief, Alibaba. She looked around and slipped into an empty room. The security cameras seemed to be disabled, so she played the recordings.

 _“Sae Niijima, do you stand on the side of justice?”_ was how it started. The voice was heavily distorted with audio effects, making it almost impossible to tell even what gender Alibaba was.

_“Goro Akechi is evil. He plans to kill our leader tonight, in that very interrogation room. We will need your help in saving him. The mental shutdowns were never caused by us, only by him. Listen for yourself.”_

It stopped there. The next file was an audio recording of Akechi on the phone, who admitted to killing Akira underground without any witnesses. Sae gasped in shock.

Another voice message came in.

_“Wait a moment for Akechi to leave, then return to get Akira. Intimidate the guard. Once you do, we’ll help you get out of the detainment center without anyone knowing.”_

“…Alright,” Sae said, mostly to herself. She waited until she heard the footsteps of Akechi stepping into the elevator and the signature ding of the elevator before she came back out, heading down the hallway once again.

“Niijima?” The guard exclaimed in shock when she reappeared.

“Has anyone came by?”

“…No, but-”

Sae took a step closer, using her prosecutor voice. “Then I suggest you get out of here. You do know that they plan to eliminate you, just so that there’s no witnesses left? I would suggest you go into hiding. Don’t answer anything, disconnect yourself.” She added in her glare just to be safe.

The guard shook in fear, nodding. “…Alright.” He then left at a brisk pace. She then entered once again, seeing Akira looking the same as a few moments ago, a grin still on his face.

“You did it.”

“I told you I’d gamble on you, did I not?” Akira shrugged. Sae helped him out of the chair, the teen stumbling occasionally. “But how do we get out of here without anyone seeing? Upstairs is filled with guards and staff, it’s impossible for us to get you out without anyone seeing.”

“That’s where I come in.”

Sae turned around quickly, eyes wide in alarm. Hikaru hummed, slowly approaching Akira. He snapped his fingers in front of the other, gaining an annoyed noise.

“Hikaru, I’m, once again, heavily drugged. Can you not do that? Makes the world shake and all that.”

Hikaru snorted. “How sad. Oh, and by the way, I heard the entire thing. Futaba has a recording; she’s going to clown you when you get back.”

“Are you serious? Wait, does that mean you heard my high ass rambling about you?”

Hikaru just replied with an innocent look and a grin. Akira groaned, face flushing.

“Wait, Aozora?” Sae’s shock was not hidden at all. Her jaw was open, her eyes still wide. “Aren’t you officially missing? You’re with the Phantom Thieves?”

“You think these idiots will survive on their own?” Hikaru said sarcastically with an amused smirk. “Someone has to make sure they don’t die. Here, follow me and we’ll explain everything.” He pulled out his phone, bringing them into the Metaverse.

“First, let’s fix you up. Sun’s Gift.”

Sae gasped as light gathered in Hikaru’s palms, flowing onto Akira’s heavy bruises and injuries. In a few moments, it was as if nothing had happened to Akira at all. He was perfectly fine, no slurring or stuttering, in his right mind.

“What the hell…?” Sae muttered.

“Don’t worry about it. Now, let’s get the hell out of here.”

~~~

Sae watched in awe as they emerged from the building. The streets were still flooded with Shadows, all eagerly attacking the trio as they traversed the Metaverse. However, with Hikaru present, they were hardly a threat at all. He did the same knife thing, once again taking time to practice his aim as they went towards the parking lot a block away.

“We’re here,” Hikaru said, launching a knife behind him into a Shadow’s head. The Shadow shrieked and vanished into dust. Akira clicked his tongue.

“Show-off.”

“I learned it from you, honey.” Hikaru reactivated the Nav, bringing them back to the real world. He then slipped off his hoodie, revealing a graphic tee underneath it. He handed the article of clothing over to Akira. “Put that on, don’t let people see who you are.”

Akira slipped it on. It was a bit small, but comfortable enough, since Hikaru wasn’t that much smaller than Akira. He then stepped back. “Lead the way, Niijima.”

Sae brought them to her car, Hikaru happily taking the back seat. “Take us to Leblanc, please. Everyone should be there.”

The drive there was silent. Sae was mostly lost in her thoughts, Hikaru idly scrolling on his phone, and Akira left to stare into the distance. It took a whole half an hour to get there since it was almost rush hour, but they made it without anyone noticing them.

Akira entered Leblanc first, Sojiro making a weird noise when he saw Akira enter.

“Kid, what the hell?! They just announced that you were arrested and that you committed suicide in prison!”

“Well, that was fast,” Hikaru muttered, checking his phone’s clock. “Hasn’t even been a whole hour yet. How long were they holding onto that script?”

“Look, I’ll explain everything. Where’s everyone?”

Just as he said that, everyone came stumbling down the stairwell. Ryuji was the first to cheer when he saw Akira, perfectly healed and fine.

“Hell yeah! Did it work?”

“Seems like it,” Futaba replied, pressing a side of her headphones against her ear. “He believes that the deed was done.”

“Then we’re clear.” Hikaru slumped into a booth, letting out a loud groan. “Thank god!”

“I still need explanations on what happened,” Sae said, crossing her arms.

“Same here. I’m lost as all hell,” Sojiro added.

“Well, the short of it was what Akira told Sae in the interrogation room. We didn’t do the mental shutdowns, Akechi did. He’s been trying to frame us, so that there’s a proper end and a closed case. Not to mention, we’re interfering with his work by changing hearts,” Hikaru explained from the booth.

“We realized that this was a lot bigger than just Akechi himself, given the specific targets and beneficiaries to the mental shutdowns. So, we needed who’s at the top of this chain.” Makoto continued from there, taking over. “Thankfully, Hikaru gave us the intel we needed. We just needed hard evidence.”

“And really, once we know what to listen to, it’s a lot easier,” Futaba said, taking a seat across from Hikaru, placing her laptop on the table. “I placed a bug on his phone to track and record calls. It was the day before we sent the calling card that I heard the message I sent you.”

Akira took over. “But we can’t just turn on Akechi, that would alert the ringmaster of what we know. So, we decided to play along with his plan, and fake my death. That way, it’ll give us the freedom to act without having to worry about him finding us out.”

“It’s just pure coincidence that Akechi wanted me dead, so we just rolled with it,” Akira shrugged. “The whole plan is a bit extra though, in my opinion.”

“Hell, I don’t really understand it myself,” Ryuji commented with a grin. “But hey, it worked!”

“It’s really just playing around with Metaverse mechanics and finding loopholes for us to exploit,” Ann summarized. “The details are a bit unclear for me too, though.”

“There are three main conditions we needed to hit.” Hikaru sat up and raised his hand, three fingers up.

One finger went down. “One, Sae’s Palace had to remain standing. If your Palace was gone, then we wouldn’t be able to access the Metaverse to as much effectiveness as we did. We would have to rely on Mementos, which doesn’t have that big of a range. Even our school is stretching it. That’s why we never actually stole your heart.”

Another one. “Two, Akira had to be able to bring you to our side. This was probably the hardest part, but we had a backup. If Akira wasn’t able to convince you, I was to just engage Akechi and get Akira out. But he was able to convince you, and he got you to take the phone.”

Last one. “Finally, you needed to show him the phone within the building. We knew he was coming after your interrogation, so we just needed you to show it to him. Once that was done, Futaba could easily pull him into the Metaverse.”

“Was that what I felt when I showed him the phone?” Sae asked, and Hikaru nodded.

Futaba smirked proudly. “It was easy enough for me to replicate the effect of someone activating the Nav. Once we pulled him in, your cognition did the rest for us. I just had to pull you out quickly so you weren’t a witness.”

“As soon as you saw Akira and the guard there, it registered in your cognition. So, when Akechi went in, he saw the exact same thing. He could kill those, however, and it wouldn’t have affected the real ones whatsoever,” Makoto expanded.

“I was in the building the entire time, in the confinement room, in the Metaverse. I had to make sure Akechi left the Metaverse by the time he left, so I had to wait until he walked past and activated my Nav. It was close enough that it pulled both of us out, and then I just waited for him to leave before I came out to grab both of you.”

“Then those things we saw outside the center…?” Sae trailed off.

“Shadows from your Palace. Believe it or not, Akira told the full truth. It’s all magic.” Hikaru snapped his fingers, and a ball of light materialized in his palm. He then tossed it over to Yusuke, who blocked it with a shard of ice.

The two adults’ jaws dropped open at the display.

“…This is all too much for me, I’m heading out for a while.” Sojiro eventually said, slipping off his apron and leaving. “Make some coffee for yourself or something,” he said to Akira.

“Oh! May I attempt to, please?” Haru asked, eager to try.

“Go ahead. I’ve been using your ingredients, so this is the least I can do. I’ll have to ask you to not use the expensive ones, if you don’t mind. Akira, just watch out for her.” With Akira’s nod, the café owner left.

“May I ask what you all plan to do now?” Sae said, taking a seat at the counter. “Oh, and can I get a cup?”

“I’ll do yours. Haru, you can try making your own later.” The girl eagerly nodded. Akira went behind the counter and got to work.

Makoto hummed, taking a seat beside her sister. “Well, Sis, we haven’t really thought about it. I suppose the logical decision is to go after the person at the top.”

“Which is?”

“Masayoshi Shido, the Diet member,” Yusuke replied. “From what Hikaru has told us, he is the one who has been getting Akechi to perform mental shutdowns.”

“Shido?” Sae scoffed. “Never liked him anyway.”

“But he’s definitely got popularity,” Ann said. “With election day coming up, everyone’s attention is on him. Some people basically worship him. He’s guaranteed a win if this goes unstopped.”

“So, you plan to steal his heart?” Sae asked, thanking Akira as he passed her a cup of coffee.

“Hikaru has already started the infiltration. We just need to rejoin him and continue pushing through. At the rate we’ve been going, that'll be over far before election day.”

“Speaking of which, aren’t you officially missing, Aozora? What happened?”

There were some averted eyes, which Sae didn’t miss. “Is it something sensitive? If it is, you don’t have to answer.”

“Well, not exactly.” Hikaru stretched his tee over his shoulder, showing her the deep scar that Akechi had left on him. Everyone flinched when they saw the wounds.

“Okumura was supposed to die that day, but I interjected enough to allow him to live. Akechi then kidnapped me in the real world, which is when I was declared missing,” Hikaru recounted, covering his shoulder back up.

“When I woke up a day later, I was then…tortured? I guess?” Sae’s eyes widened in horror.

“That’s awful!”

“It is, but it didn’t last long. He had to leave to do some errands, so he left me to bleed out. Everyone else came to save me later, though, before I died.”

“I still don’t think I can get that image out of my head…” Haru whispered.

“It definitely looked hopeless,” Makoto said, shaking her head. “By gaining a Persona, our natural vitality is increased, making us a lot bulkier than normal. However, even with that, Hikaru looked like he was barely holding on to the thread of life.”

“Well, wounds heal easily once you’re in the Metaverse. But the especially deep ones were left like this.” Hikaru ghosted a hand over the scar on his shoulder. “It doesn’t hurt or anything, but yeah, it looks kinda bad, huh…”

“Bad is an understatement,” Yusuke said, crossing his arms, “but I suppose it could have been worse.”

“So anyway, yeah, I can’t exactly say I’m alive or he’ll just come back again. I told my father, and he told me to go into hiding. He couldn’t call off the search, since that would be strange, so he told me to just avoid being in public if I can.” He then turned to Akira. “That’s what you’ll be doing from now on.”

“How fun,” Akira replied dryly. “Here you go, Haru. You can take over.”

The girl quickly slipped behind the counter, putting on an apron. “Oh, I’m so excited!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, one thing the game never showed is how Sae got out with Akira on her. So, I did it my way. Next chapter, we're already halfway into Shido's Palace, since Hikaru was doing that.


	40. The Cruiser of Pride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Into Shido's Palace we go. Can you believe there's only 11 more chapters to go? Well, 10 plus an epilogue.

It was getting late, so everyone had left. Well, mostly everyone.

Hikaru had stayed behind, slowly drinking the coffee that Akira had served him. He was watching the darkening sky, his other hand idly fiddling with a small stick made of light.

Akira wordlessly sat across from him, a silent sigh escaping his lips.

“…I’m sorry.”

Hikaru looked ahead.

“So am I.”

Akira shook his head. “You have nothing to apologize for. I was the one who said those things to you. I…I messed up, and that’s my fault. Especially knowing your past, it makes it even harder for you. For that, I can only apologize and hope you’ll take me back.” The teen bowed his head.

“…I’m not going to lie. It hurt.” Akira sighed softly, mentally preparing himself.

“But you’ve been hurting as well. And that was my fault. I shouldn’t have expected much when I just marched in after not speaking with any of you while you all ran through an entire Palace and even saved me from my mistake.” Hikaru said with a sad smile.

“But I shouldn’t have blown up like that! I don’t know what took over me, but I said some unforgivable things. You shouldn’t have to apologize.”

“Of course I have things to apologize for.”

Hikaru looked down into his cup of coffee. “I’ve been keeping things from you. I haven’t told you the full truth, and I still can’t. That’s also why I’ve been avoiding you in the first place.”

Akira looked up curiously.

“All I can say is trust me when I say that it’s not your fault, and that I can fix it. I know how to, and now I just need to wait for help. I’m going to be selfish, and I have to ask you to wait again. For that, I’m sorry.”

“No, I trust you. You’ve proven worthy of it already, multiple times.” Akira clasped his hands together in front of him. “With this, you’ve saved me already countless times. The Thieves would be leaderless without you.”

Hikaru remained silent.

“Even as Hikaru, not Sky, you’ve done so much for me. And I’ve done nothing but betray your trust.” Akira bit his trembling lip as he said the next words. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Don’t say that.” Hikaru’s stern voice shocked him.

“Don’t say that when you’re the one I want to be with. I’ve told you, didn’t I? Don’t lower your standards when I’m right in front of you, asking for you to take me back.”

Akira didn’t move, still shocked.

“I still meant what I said on that day, on the rooftop. Every single word. I love you, Akira Kurusu. That’s why I’m risking my life by saving you and making sure that no harm comes to the Thieves. So please, I’m begging you, don’t lower yourself. Stand up and face me properly.”

It was a moment before Akira let out a sad chuckle.

“You’re right, you’re right. I sound pathetic, don’t I?”

“At least you’re self-aware.”

Akira genuinely laughed at that, a smile on his face. “You really don’t hold in punches, do you?”

“Why would I? You clearly need someone to snap you out of it, and everyone’s too afraid to do it.” Hikaru’s lips curled into a smile.

“Then let me rephrase that statement. Hikaru, will you take this fool back, even when he has committed a grave sin?”

Hikaru rolled his eyes. “Akira, we’re Phantom Thieves. Isn’t this par for the course?”

“Is that a yes?” Akira asked cheekily, leaning over.

Hikaru leaned in as well, giving him a kiss on the lips. “Does that answer your question?”

Akira’s cheeks flushed red, but his grin remained. “I think so, yeah. So, what are we now?”

“I’ll wait on the official label until everything’s solved. Until then, consider us ‘complicated’.” Hikaru got up, and with a final smile in Akira’s direction, left.

~~~

“You want to what?”

“Split up,” Sky said without any hesitation. “We still need what, three more letters? This place is massive, I had to go through winding corridors and mouse traps all over the place. We want to finish this as quickly as possible, yeah? Then we can split up. We have enough people for two parties, anyways.”

“Joker?” Queen asked. “Your call.”

“…Not really comfortable with it, to be honest. Oracle?”

“The Shadows towards the third letter are weaker, while the fourth has stronger Shadows. Since we have nine people, we can do a group of four for the third dude, and five for the fourth. We have a TV president, IT president, and ‘the cleaner’. Whatever that means.”

“I can lead a group for the TV president. It’s easy enough for me to get a letter from that. Joker, you okay with taking on the IT president? We can regroup after that. Oracle, check your navigation.” Sky sent over a route for them to go in order to save time, going through the restaurant. His group would have to go back through the pool and around in order to get to the gaming corner.

“Alright, now who’s going with who? Oracle, you’re with me since Sky can navigate for the others.” Joker rested his hands on his hips.

“Take Mona as well, you all need reliable healing.” The cat saluted, moving over to Joker’s side. “That leaves you five.” Sky turned to look at the remaining Thieves.

“Oh, I wanna go with Sky!” Skull exclaimed, raising his hand eagerly. “Haven’t fought with him since Oracle’s Palace!”

“No complaints here,” Joker responded. Skull pumped his fist, moving to Sky’s side.

“I would say Panther and Noir, head with Sky,” Oracle piped up. “Noir’s still kind of new to the Metaverse, and Panther’s magic can help balance the overly heavy physical attacks on that team.”

“You two okay with that?” Joker asked Queen and Fox, who shrugged.

“I am fine with whatever you decide,” Fox replied.

“Same here!” Noir said cheerily.

“Then let’s go.”

~~~

Sky’s group ran through the restaurant and poolside. Of course, the lock mechanisms were reset, meaning they had to run through each of them again, back and forth through mouse traps. That wasn’t the hard part, though.

“Hecate, Agidyne!” A pillar of flames exploded from under the King Frost, it cackling in response as the flames only charred the many layers of armor it had on.

Sky let out an annoyed noise. The Shadow naturally deflected Bless attacks, making it hard for him to even assist in battle. His attacks were easily brushed off with minimal damage done. Skull and Noir provided damage, but they had no strong single attack that could pierce through the thick armor and frost that the King Frost had.

“Milady, Psiodyne!”

The psychic energy attempted to tear and bend the metal armor to little effect. Noir gave it an upset frown, but didn’t drop her battle position. She summoned Milady once again, this time preparing the guns on the Persona.

“One-shot Kill!”

The Persona’s dress parted, revealing heavy artillery underneath. It then launched a powerful shot, strong enough to knock the King Frost off balance. Sky immediately seized the opportunity.

“Skull, Panther! Rush in!” The two Thieves nodded, jumping in from opposing sides of the Shadow. They ripped their masks off in unison, dealing some damage with their attacks, but not enough to kill it. It stood back up with an angry noise and summoned sharp icicles above all of them.

“Apollo!”

An arrow of light refracted, shattering the large icicles before they had a chance to fall. The others, realizing that Sky was on defense, went back in, hurling attack and attack onto the Shadow.

“Why the hell is this thing so tanky?!” Skull growled, smacking it with his club to no avail.

Sky gritted his teeth, trying to think. He needed to find a weak spot, or somehow make one with the elements that they had. The problem lied in that they had no high-powered energy attack that could shred through their armor. He could do it, but the King Frost deflected Bless attacks. So, he had to find a way around that. There had to be a weak point, somewhere.

“Solar Flare!”

Beams of light bent around the King Frost, naturally turning away from the creature. The Shadow giggled, swinging its huge scepter towards Skull. The Thief blocked it but took heavy damage while doing so.

“Panther, suppressing fire!” Sky said dashed forward, throwing his knives towards the Shadow’s head. It formed a wall of ice, blocking it easily with a laugh. From behind it, two beams of fire were shot straight at it, taking its attention away from Skull for the moment.

While it was preoccupied, Sky moved over to Skull, pressing a healing hand against his back. The blond breathed a sigh of relief, giving the navigator a thumbs up. Sky nodded, heading over towards Noir, who didn’t look that good either. He did the same, receiving a smile and nod.

“How the hell do we kill this thing?!” Panther yelled, dodging a rain of icicles. “Do we really have to just slowly wear it down?!”

Sky looked at it again with a scan. Progress was made, yes, but barely. The armor mitigated almost all damage, and any that made past was heavily reduced. Sky leaped back, slinging his rifle over. He summoned Apollo and fired, the bullet naturally gaining a Critical Strike.

The bullet left a dent, but that was it, really.

He cursed, and fired again, this time aiming for its head. It let out a growl and blocked it with its scepter. An idea then came into Sky’s head.

“Aim for its head! Try Physical attacks!” The Thieves, absolutely annoyed as all hell at this point, went for it. Skull leaped up and summoned his Persona, hitting it with a Megaton Raid. From the ground, Noir fired a One-Shot Kill. Panther pulled out her gun and sprayed a hail of bullets.

The panicked Shadow tried to conjure a wall of ice, but Apollo’s light moved faster. It shattered through the ice and was deflected elsewhere, but it served its purpose. The attacks pierced through the unprotected head, killing the King Frost with a sharp shriek.

“Finally!” Sky screamed as the Shadow dissipated. “Fuck that piece of shit!”

His loud exclamation, of course, attracted more Shadows, but really, if they didn’t have a Bless immunity, does it really matter? The rest of the Thieves took a step back when a large number of Shadows surrounded them, but Sky seemed unconcerned at all.

“Uhh…Sky?” Panther said, concern in her voice. “Shouldn’t we, you know, run?”

“Apollo, Supernova!”

Light exploded from the Persona, instantly blinding and vaporizing the large crowd. The Shadows couldn’t even say anything before they disappeared entirely, not even leaving the dust that they usually did when they died.

The other Thieves’ jaws dropped open. Sky, on the other hand, was kicking the pile of dust the King Frost left spitefully.

“Did he just…?” Skull whispered.

“I think so?”

“Well, Oracle did say he was really strong, didn’t she?” Noir said with a smile, shrugging. “I’m just glad we got that over with!”

They got Sky to leave the pile of dust alone before he started trying to blast it with light.

~~~

The entertainment room was more of a casino, really. It was just slot machines and pachinko as far as the eye can see.

And of course, there was the customary madman who decides to try to waste his entire life savings on this mess for some goddamn reason. And this madman was their target.

Sky sighed, staring at the head of the only company who could possibly even come close to the Aozora in the entertainment industry spinning slots. Kanada Yashiro, head of Kanada Media. Of course, that doesn’t mean they were anywhere close to being as influential as Sky’s family, oh, not at all. The man in front of him feared him, and Sky planned to use that to its fullest.

That was exactly why Sky decided to save time and conjured up some knives to point at the Shadow’s neck.

“Letter of recommendation or you die, Kanada.”

They had a plan, keyword being had. The original idea was to have Sky strike a conversation, maybe talk a letter of recommendation out. Sky was an Aozora, so the president would be expected to pass him one. From there, they could take him on or maybe just leave if they could without engaging.

But then the King Frost came along, and that left Sky in a bad mood, so he had decided that the plan took too much patience that he really didn’t have at the moment. This was much faster, much more efficient, saving him and his team the strength.

Of course, the Shadow recognized his voice. “A-Aozora?!”

Sky clicked his tongue. “I’m not repeating myself. Letter?”

It seems that Kanada was smarter than others, seeing as he realized a power difference when he saw it. It might also be because Sky was an Aozora, and that name terrified everyone in the industry. It’s like trying to compete with someone unbeatable. What’s the point?

The Shadow reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter, hands shaking as he handed it over while trying not to move his neck as much as possible. “You won’t get away with this,” he tried to growl out, but swallowed it as the knife in front of him moved an inch closer.

Sky hummed, pleased. “That’s great. Now die.”

Before the president could protest, Sky fired the knives, instantly decapitating the Shadow. It withered to dust without another word. The navigator turned around, slipping the letter into a pocket.

“…Sky, remind me to never piss you off,” Skull said from the side, eyes still looking at the spot where Kanada’s head landed. “Holy crap, that was brutal.”

“That’s what influence does for you. You get respect, especially from some idiot who wants to be a direct competitor.” Sky said casually, double-checking his map. He almost swore when he saw another strip of hallways they had to go through to head over to the other group’s position.

“I understand, really. Sometimes you just need the small fry to learn their place,” Noir said with a deadly smile on her face. “It’s like pests in my garden. Absolutely annoying.”

“Rich people are scary…” Panther whispered. Skull wordlessly nodded.

The two of them turned over, innocent looks on their faces. Skull and Panther immediately looked away, not making eye contact.

“Well, it’s going to take us a while to get to the others. Let’s get moving.”

~~~

Joker’s group went down the path that Sky had highlighted for them. They immediately saw their first obstacle: a door. They, however, unlike Sky’s group, decided to be a bit violent. It wasn’t like it mattered at this point, right? Stealth was really just a concept.

Kamu Susano-o easily smashed the door down, sending wood splintering in different directions. The guests nearby didn’t even notice this, too busy talking to each other to notice.

“…It’s working, I guess?” Oracle said, confused. “It really shouldn’t, but it is?”

“How so?” Fox asked.

“Well, doors are as impenetrable as the ruler believes they are. So, since we can just do this, Shido believes that his secrets aren’t safe, even behind closed doors?”

“Sounds about right,” Mona said. “If Shido really is the one behind all of this, then it’s expected. He wanted to eliminate everyone involved in Joker’s imprisonment. I wouldn’t be surprised if he plans to eliminate Akechi after his win.”

“Then we have to stop that. Let’s get moving.” Everyone nodded, following Joker closely.

They had to go through some hallways and the whole rat trap thing that drove Oracle nuts with the number of puns that Fox made. By the end of it, Oracle was passive-aggressively making jabs at Fox, who looked proud of himself. Queen and Mona had really just given up, giving each other dull looks as they followed Joker’s footsteps closely.

“It’s…above us?” Joker asked once they arrived at the side deck. “How the hell?”

“I guess we have to just scale the side of the ship,” Oracle said sarcastically. Queen then noticed a small ledge on the side of the ship that they could climb onto.

“Yeah, I guess so,” she muttered, catching everyone by surprise.

Joker was the first to say something. “Wait, you’re serious? We’re climbing this thing?”

“Don’t see any way up, do you? Based on Sky’s information, he’s a shut-in who won’t come out of his room, and we can’t deliver his food,” Queen said with an exasperated tone. “Any other ideas?”

Everyone except Mona stayed quiet, looking at each other awkwardly and avoiding Queen’s sharp gaze. The cat, on the other hand, heaved a sigh and adjusted his scimitar in his grip.

“That’s why you’re Queen. Let’s go,” Mona responded, leading the group up the side of the ship, Queen right beside him. Behind them, Fox, Oracle, and Joker looked at each other weirdly.

“I was just kidding,” Oracle muttered under her breath but followed them up the ship.

By, most probably, sheer luck and coincidence, the single room with an open balcony was the room of the IT president. That made it easy for them to make an entry. Before they charged in, however, Joker held them back.

“Are we really just charging in? Shouldn’t we try to avoid fighting if we can?” he suggested, which they shrugged at.

“I mean, yeah, but is there really a point? We’re entering his room from his fucking balcony, Joker,” Oracle replied. “The normal response to that is either running and screaming or bloody murder.”

“I’m not sure about that last one, but Oracle is right. He will most likely engage us as soon as we enter, or perhaps try to flee and alert other Shadows nearby,” Queen said, peeking the corner. The IT president was lounging on the sofa, sitting beside two women.

“Oh, you want to try something I thought of?” Oracle asked.

“…Well, why not?” Mona responded.

~~~

The Thieves laid in position across the room. Joker was behind the sofa, Queen by the door, Fox by the bed, and Mona on the ceiling fan. Oracle had attempted to use her Position Hack to teleport her teammates across the small distance, sending them into position for a group ambush. It worked quite well. Now, they waited.

“Well, I don’t know about you ladies, but Captain Shido had trusted me with a personal task of his.” The man was boasting with a smirk on his face.

“Oh, really? What could that be?” The woman on his left asked, leaning closer to the man.

“You know the Medjed attack a few months ago? Yeah, that was all me. Poor dude who had his info leaked, though. Sucks to suck.” He let out a cackle, leaning further back into the couch. “Who could’ve guessed that the Thieves had a hacker?”

“Oh, that was amazing!” The woman to his right chirped, giving him a sly grin. “I remember people saying that the Phantom Thieves were responsible and should do something when the announcement came out.”

“Not only that, Shido says he trusts me the most. I was the one who shut down the research on cognitive psience or something that some lady was the head of. Shido said it was getting too close or something, really just gave me a reason to test my new code.”

Behind the balcony wall, Oracle froze.

“Shido then said something about her knowing too much, and next thing you know, she dies from suicide. Just between you girls and me, though, she totally deserved it.”

Anger began coursing through Oracle’s veins as her left hand tapped on her keyboard. In the room, the determined Thieves felt a rush of power. Red, green, and purple lights surrounded them, increasing their overall power. That was followed by a command.

_“Destroy him.”_

With a glance to all the Thieves, Joker reached out from behind the couch with his dagger, immediately grabbing the IT president in a chokehold with a knife to his throat. The women around him immediately tried to help, but they were forcibly moved away with Oracle’s Position Hack, into the waiting arms of Queen and Fox, both armed and ready.

“Letter of recommendation?” Joker asked in a falsely sweet tone.

“Who the hell are you people, anyway?!” He growled out but whimpered when Joker tightened his hold. He flipped the dagger in his grip, resting the edge directly on the man’s throat.

“Not the right answer. Mona, search him.” The cat dropped from the ceiling directly onto the president’s lap, earning a yelp of surprise. Mona then reached into his vest pocket, taking the letter hidden there. Then, just as suddenly as he came, he was gone.

Outside, Mona handed the letter to Oracle. She then held a hand to her ear.

_“Eliminate them.”_

Queen drove her brass knuckle into the Shadow, while Fox made a show of slicing the other apart. Joker’s grip, however, loosened briefly when he attempted to stab the man’s throat, giving the president a short window of time to break out. And he did.

A dark aura quickly surrounded him, transforming him into a fairy-like creature with a suit and crown, as well as a rapier in one hand.

“You fools, you’ll rue the day you attempted to threaten me!”

With a wave of his rapier, two fairies in long, green dresses appeared, bowing slightly when they saw the king.

“Oberon and two Titanias, not that much of a threat.” The Phantom Thieves grouped as Oracle and Mona appeared behind them, ready to join the battle. Oracle summoned Prometheus and pulled up her console.

“Nuke the king!”

“Anat, Freidyne!” Queen immediately commanded, ripping off her metal mask. The Persona appeared with a flash of blue flames and launched a ball of nuclear energy towards the king. However, before it could hit, a Titania intercepted the attack, knocking the Nuclear attack away and responding with her own.

“Oh, that’s annoying,” Fox responded with a scowl, dodging the reflected Nuclear attack. He rushed in with his sword drawn, getting a few well-placed hits onto the Titania in front of the Oberon. The Shadow wailed, holding onto her injured arm and torso.

“Dionysus, Mapsiodyne!” A large wave of psychic energy rushed from the multi-colored Persona’s arms, distorting the environment around them heavily. The two Titanias immediately turned to dust when the distortions came into contact with them, but the Oberon remained unaffected.

Electricity gathered around it as the psychic field fell, crackling loudly as the Shadow president charged it up. With a wave of his rapier, the electricity shot towards the Thieves in different arcs, causing them to brace for the impact, but the attack dissipated before they even came close.

The Shadow narrowed its eyes.

“What…?” Mona whispered, looking at the attack strangely. He then noticed the thin, barely noticeable screen of neon green between them and the Shadow. “Thanks for the assist, Oracle!” he yelled with a grin.

“Go now, Queen!” Oracle yelled, her voice echoing from inside Prometheus. The nuclear Persona user wasted no time, charging in and launching a Freidyne attack from close range, knocking Oberon out of the sky.

The Thieves rushed in with an All-Out Attack, leaving heavy gashes and large bruises all over the Shadow. It hung on with its last breath, slowly getting up again, not noticing the pistol pointed straight for his head.

“Say your goodbyes,” Joker taunted with a feral grin, firing his gun. The bullet went through the Shadow cleanly, the lifeless body of the Shadow vanishing into dust before it hit the ground.

“That was fast, honestly. Is he just weak, or are we getting stronger?” Queen asked, adjusted her grip on her brass knuckles.

“We’re definitely a lot stronger. We’re basically power farming,” Oracle replied, earning Queen and Fox’s confusion.

“She means we’ve just been killing a lot of stronger Shadows, so we’re gaining a lot more experience than we otherwise wouldn’t. That’s why we feel so much stronger,” Joker explained, making Oracle giggle.

 _“You people there?”_ Oracle transmitted over to Sky.

_Yeah, we’re heading over to your position. We finished here too, but Shido decided to be a rat bastard and stationed like five King Frosts in the way. Annoying as all hell._

_“That’s great, but we’re done here already. What’re we doing for the cleaner dude or whatever?”_

_We basically checked the entire ship except for the engine room. It should be right below your current position. I’ll try to find a path for you._

Oracle pulled up her map and noticed the room that was underneath the side deck they climbed and a small duct that led upwards. That must be the engine room.

_“No need, found a path. We’ll enter first and meet you there?”_

_Yeah, I’m getting a reading from there. Not too strong, so you guys should be fine. Just a bit stronger than the Oberon you should’ve fought._

_“We’ll take a break for a moment and then head in. You’re sure we don’t need to wait for you?”_

_Oh, we’re in a safe room right now above the entertainment hall. We had to retreat because we were getting swarmed, and I needed some coffee. I use OP attacks, but it also takes a lot out of me to even use them. It’ll take us a moment before we move again. I was doing a letter or a hallway per run before this._

_“Gotcha. We’ll see you there.”_

“Guys, the next letter is right below us. It’s in the engine room underneath,” Oracle relayed to her team, gaining nods.

“We can break for a moment downstairs. Should we wait for the rest?” Joker asked, leading them out of the IT president’s room.

“He said to go ahead first, they’re also breaking while Sky recovers a bit. He’s exhausted as all hell. He also said that it was strong, but not to the point where we’ll lose. Maybe struggle a bit.”

“Well, it shouldn’t be that bad, right?”

Ah, Joker would regret his word choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we go into the battle:
> 
> Sky: 205 HP, 321 SP  
> Apollo: LVL 74  
> \- Solar Flare: Severe Bless Damage to one foe. (48 SP)  
> \- Supernova: Severe Bless Damage to all foes. (54 SP)  
> \- Sun's Gift: Full heal and stat recover, basically a single target Salvation. (30 SP)  
> \- Critical Strike: Boost attack to become crit. (Free cost)  
> \- Spell Master: Half all SP costs (Innate)  
> \- Hymn of Light: ??? (96 SP)  
> Next Spell: LVL 75, Solar Eclipse (???)


	41. Crow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We start the big battle.

Sky groaned, laying on the table in the middle of the safe room. “God, I’m tired.”

“Open up.” Sky automatically opened his mouth and let out a weird noise that resulted in a gargle when Skull began pouring lukewarm coffee in his mouth.

“Holy shit, that’s something I don’t think I wanted to see.” Panther said, wrinkling her nose in slight disgust.

“I’m tired, Panther,” Sky replied, pushing his goggles onto his forehead. Everyone else did the same with their masks, taking a seat around the table Hikaru was lying on.

“Well, we made great progress! We took care of the Shadow quite quickly without a fight, which saves our energy!” Haru said positively.

“I mean, yeah, we did, but fuck, those King Frosts are so annoying! Who created them?!” Hikaru whined. “Ryuji, coffee me.”

“Do it yourself, you lazy ass,” Ryuji said with an amused grin, using his foot to push the thermos of coffee towards Hikaru. “Just because you carried us doesn’t mean we’re your slaves.”

“It’s greatly reassuring, however, to have you with us,” Haru said.

“Yeah, you’re like, insanely strong, Hikaru. What happened in the past few months?” Ann asked, crossing her arms and leaning back.

“Well, it’s a long story that I really can’t explain right now. I don’t know if I ever will be able to explain it. Probably soon?” Hikaru replied, unsure. A hand came to rest on his stomach. “We’ll see.”

“Okay then,” Ann concluded, changing the subject. “How are the others doing?”

Hikaru waved a hand without sitting up, projecting the map above of him. He then pointed to the two markers present. One was by the back end of the ship, where they were, while the other was by the left side. “They should be in battle right now or at least finishing up. Once I don’t feel that braindead anymore, we can head over and find this cleaner dude.”

“Where is this dude, anyway?” Ryuji asked. “You said you cleared the restaurant and pool, yeah?”

“Yeah, I cleared the rest of the Palace already. So that means the only place we haven’t properly explored would be here.” The map zoomed in to the small area underneath Joker’s group. It was labeled as the engine room. “No idea what kind of character this ‘cleaner’ would be though, but definitely underground. Maybe yakuza? Black market dealer? Information broker?”

“Yakuza? For real?!” Ryuji exclaimed in surprise.

“Shido needs someone to clean up the mess left from Akechi’s work, right? That’s why he’s called the cleaner, most likely.”

“That’s just disturbing,” Ann muttered to herself, pulling out some Jagariko from their inventory to snack on.

“I can say that Father did have some shady connections before…” Haru looked away. “I never knew what those people always came over for…”

“I’ve only heard stories of my family’s relations,” Hikaru said. “It wasn’t much, since my father didn’t want to tell me too much, but the Aozora scandal a while back cut all those ties. Right now, we’re running clean.”

_You people there?_

Hikaru raised a hand to stop everyone from talking. _“Yeah, we’re heading over to your position. We finished here too, but Shido decided to be a rat bastard and stationed like five King Frosts in the way. Annoying as all hell.”_

_That’s great, but we’re done here already. What’re we doing for the cleaner dude or whatever?_

_“We basically covered the entire ship except for the engine room. It should be right below your current position. I’ll try to find a path for you.”_

_No need, found a path. We’ll enter first and meet you there?_

_“Yeah, I’m getting a reading from there. Not too strong, so you guys should be fine. Just a bit stronger than the Oberon you should’ve fought.”_

_We’ll take a break for a moment and then head in. You’re sure we don’t need to wait for you?_

_“Oh, we’re in a safe room right now above the entertainment hall. We had to retreat because we were getting swarmed, and I needed some coffee. I use OP attacks, but it also takes a lot out of me to even use them. It’ll take us a moment before we move again. I was doing a letter or a hallway a run before this.”_

_Gotcha. We’ll see you there._

“Seems like Joker’s done with the letter. They said that they’ll break and then head down to get the cleaner. We’ll have to get going soon if we want to catch up.”

“Then chug the rest of that and let’s get going,” Ryuji suggested, getting up and slinging his club onto his shoulder. He slid his mask back onto his face, a grin naturally appearing. “I’m ready to kick ass!”

Ann passed the rest of her Jagariko to Haru, who took a few and chomped on those. Hikaru sat up and chugged down the rest of the coffee, sighing a breath of relief as he felt his exhaustion disappear. “Sure do love Metaverse logic.”

“No arguing with you there!” Noir chirped, her mask already in place. Hikaru got up and slid his goggles in place.

“Alright, let’s go clear that stupid hallway!”

~~~

“Uhh…yikes?” was all Oracle could really say.

Now, it wasn’t as if the Ongyo-Ki in front of them was strong. No, he was comparable to the Oberon, and it took one good hit for that thing to die, really. No, it was the fact that it was so much bulkier than the Oberon, and its ability to constantly raise its stats. Which included defense. Meaning their attacks were weak at best.

It was like the King Frost problem all over again.

“Are you kidding me?!” Joker cursed loudly, zapping the Shadow with a Ziodyne to not much effect. The Shadow’s mouth curled into a grin as it rushed forward to slice at the leader.

Joker deflected it with his dagger, but barely. A Heat Riser also increased its agility, making it that much faster. Joker would easily be overpowered had he not brought Thor to the front of his mind, who had a resistance to Physical attacks.

A blast of ice made it back away. Fox moved to Joker’s side, katana ready to be drawn. “Are you alright, Joker?”

“Fine, but how the hell do we pin that thing down?” Joker asked, watching Queen and Mona try their attempts. The Garudyne from Mona managed to keep it still, but it easily took Queen’s Freidyne without any problem. It was really starting to get on all their nerves, especially it kept casting Marakunda to counter Queen’s Marakukaja, and they didn’t have Panther, who had Dekaja to nullify his buffs.

“Holy shit!” Oracle cursed, trying to give the party a group Heat Riser buff. She eventually pulled it off, raising all of their stats and also managing to give them the effects of Charge and Concentrate. “Just go on the offensive! At this point, just take swings! Mona, Fox, pin him down!”

“Zorro, Garudyne!” The strong winds limited the Ongyo-Ki’s actions, allowing Fox to follow it up with a Bufudyne to seal its movement.

Queen and Joker dashed in, eyes gleaming a dangerous crimson as they moved in unison.

“Anat, Freidyne!”

“Nebiros, Eigaon!”

Anat appeared in a flash, Nebiros right behind her. The transformer charged a ball of nuclear energy in her palm, launching it straight into the Ongyo-Ki’s face, knocking it back. Immediately after, Nebiros raised its puppet, Curse magic flowing from it into the Ongyo-Ki. The Shadow screamed in pain as Nebiros contorted the puppet, and a cracking noise rang throughout the engine room.

Mona and Fox didn’t wait for a moment.

“Kamu Susano-o, Myriad Slashes!”

“Zorro, Garudyne!”

Kamu Susano-o leaped into the fray, swinging his katana with impossible speed. Gashes appeared all over the Shadow, the cuts made deeper as sharp gusts of wind cut deeper where the swordsman had left them.

The Shadow roared, sending shivers down the spine of the ones closest to him. He then swung his staff in an arc around him, knocking both Mona and Fox a distance away. It moved on the offensive now, charging straight for Joker.

“Thor!”

The Norse god blocked the attack with a growl, sending the cleaner back. However, they weren’t safe yet. Using the backward momentum, the Shadow pivoted over to Queen, getting a clean hit on her stomach. She let out a scream, jumping back and healing herself.

The Ongyo-Ki tried to continue the assault, but Kamu Susano-o came in and interjected, taking the Shadow’s attention off of Queen.

“We need to finish this!” Oracle cried. She once again channeled more buffs to her team and disrupted the Ongyo-Ki’s attack patterns, stunning it for a moment. “Rush in!”

All of them ran in, weapons at the ready. This time, the damage was clearly affecting the cleaner. He was bleeding black blood, barely on his feet and needing to lean on his staff to even stand up straight.

Joker felt a sense of déjà vu as the Thieves aimed their guns at the Shadow, who looked up with acceptance in his face.

“Heh, I had a good run,” he said softly.

“You put up a good fight,” Joker replied, kindness in his voice, “but we have to take down Shido. He’s the one who started all of this.”

“You’re funny, kid. Would’ve been a good member of our clan.”

“In my next life, maybe.”

The Ongyo-Ki stumbled onto his feet, dropping his weapon. “Letter’s in the cabinet over there,” he gestured vaguely over to the main control room that they were in.

“Thanks. Now, goodbye.”

The Phantom Thieves fired, filling the Shadow with bullet holes and killing it.

“Alright, let’s get the letter and regroup with Sky,” Oracle said after a moment. “They should be almost here, so we can just wait for them in the safe room above.”

Joker nodded, heading in to find the letter while everyone got a touch-up from Mona. It wasn’t exactly hidden well at all, so it didn’t take him long. He was heading back to everyone when a panicked voice rang in his head.

_You five, get out of there right now!_

“What’s happening?” Queen asked, panicked.

“I don’t know, wait a moment!” Oracle said. After a short moment, she gasped, turning around. “He’s-”

_Get out before-_

Sky’s voice was cut off by a gunshot, hitting Oracle straight in the chest. She let out a yell of pain, falling onto the ground next to them. Queen was the first one to move to action.

“Oracle!” She rushed to her side, summoning Anat to heal the injured navigator. Joker and Fox followed her lead, standing in front of them to guard them, but they were already quite exhausted themselves. All of them were. The fight with the cleaner had dragged on too long, and none of them were in a condition to fight.

A phantom jumped from the beam above their heads, landing right in front of them. It was a familiar figure, with a bright red mask and a white prince outfit.

“I must say, that was certainly an interesting trick you pulled off that day.”

Akechi’s glare was deadly, almost toxic. However, the Thieves remained steadfast.

“How did you know, I wonder? It must’ve been that Aozora brat. I knew I should’ve finished him off properly that day. But you see, it was so much fun hearing his screams. I just couldn’t help myself.”

Akechi’s saber slid into his grip, a dangerous grin on his face.

“Then again, what’s the fun if you all die in a moment? Let’s have some fun…”

Two Shadows appeared behind him, but Akechi didn’t seem concerned. With a snap of his fingers, dark energy similar to an Eigaon gathered around them, but the effect was different. The two Shadows didn’t take damage, but their eyes were wild, out of focus. They were twitching like mad, letting out animalistic growls instead of humanlike noises.

“What did you…” Joker trailed off, readying himself for combat. The killer instinct he got from those Shadows were so much stronger compared to normal, it was as if they were wild animals.

“I made them psychotic, of course. How else do you think psychotic breakdowns were caused?” Akechi asked with a tilt of his head. “How foolish of you. Finish them.”

The two Shadows charged while Akechi stayed behind, watching the fight.

The two Shadows, a Cerberus and a Cu Chulainn, charged with reckless abandon, leaving many openings for Joker and Fox to attack. However, they didn’t seem to care much for all the wounds the two Thieves were inflicting, firing multiple attacks in retaliation.

“Increased attack, but less focused on defense…” Oracle moaned out while Mona continued healing the deep bullet wound in her chest. It had punctured a lung and barely missed her heart as well. Queen gave them a concerned glance, earning a sigh from Mona.

“Go help them. I can handle Oracle.” Queen looked at him, and, when Mona nodded, went off into combat. Mona hummed and returned his attention back to Oracle’s wound, focusing on repairing the delicate tissue.

“Sky shouldn’t be far…” Mona muttered to himself, looking towards the vent that they entered from. “We need him here.”

~~~

“Kamu Susano-o, Bufudyne!” Frost gathered at the rabid Cerberus’ feet, pinning it in place. It let out a roar and struggled, but the ice was thick. The Cu Chulainn, however, left no room for them to breathe. It rushed forward with its spear, a growl deep in its throat. Joker moved a moment too late and suffered a large slash across his torso. He jumped back, but the Shadow followed him, spear ready to deal a fatal blow.

“Anat, Freidyne!” A blast of nuclear energy sent the Shadow flying away, crashing against a wall. Queen gave Joker a nod, who summoned Seiryu to heal himself. A blast of green light surrounded him, and he was as good as new, the deep gash gone.

“How troublesome.” They turned their attention to Akechi, who was watching with a bored expression. “My Shadows seem outnumbered. Maybe we should even the playing field.”

The ground rumbled, and two more Shadows appeared from the abyss. They took the form of a Lilith and a Surt. Once again, dark energy came from Akechi, sending the Shadows into psychotic rampages. Unlike the other two, however, these two focused primarily on magical attacks.

“Makarakarn!” Joker yelled just as two blasts of magic came, one a strong inferno and the other a frigid winter. The shield was erected just in time, reflecting both attacks back to their attackers. The Lilith let out a high-pitch shriek as the fire burned it severely, while the Surt fell onto the floor, stunned at the cold frost all over its body.

“We can’t keep this going,” Queen muttered as she moved next to Joker. “I’m running low on magic, and I don’t think Mona’s that well off, either. Oracle’s down, and Fox can’t handle everything by himself.”

Joker turned over to where Fox was dueling the Cu Chulainn, keeping up with its attacks. However, anyone can tell that Fox was slowly getting tired, while the Shadow seemed unbothered by the wounds all over it.

“We don’t really have much choice,” Joker replied, adjusting his grip on his dagger. “We need to wait for the rest to meet up with us.”

They split as two more blasts of magic came in their direction. With a nod, Joker rushed the Lilith while Queen handled Surt. Blasts of magic clashed, causing a large explosion of smoke in the cramped engine area.

Fox growled, casting a Sukukaja on himself to outmaneuver the Shadow in front of him. His attacks became quicker, catching the Shadow off guard. With a few well-placed slashes, adding that to the damage done earlier by Joker, the Shadow crumpled and vanished into dust.

“Now,” Fox whispered to himself, turning over to the Cerberus. It was spitting flames onto the ice to weaken it and then shattered it by struggling free. It growled and faced Fox, firing a beam of flames straight for him.

He dodged it, not seeing the Surt charge an Agidyne right behind him until Queen warned him a bit too late.

“Fox, watch out!” The flames from below him blew up, burning him and knocking him out in one hit. The Cerberus took this chance and pounced, but Mona interjected, sending a strong gust of wind to blow the beast far away. With a small nod from Oracle, he ran over and pulled Fox over to their makeshift healing area.

Oracle slowly sat up, feeling the pain in her chest disappear. “I think I can head back in. Focus on helping Fox,” she said, calling upon Prometheus.

“Alright, but watch yourself,” Mona replied.

Oracle gave him a confident grin. “I don’t get caught out twice, Mona.”

Prometheus hovered into the fray, Oracle safely inside. “Alright, losers, I’m back! Here we go!” she yelled.

Joker and Queen sighed in relief, feeling the exhaustion in their bones lift a little. With renewed vigor, they re-engaged, this time with Oracle’s support.

“Ice attacks incoming from Lilith! Joker, on your left, an Agidyne! Queen, dodge and heal!”

Oracle’s commands made it easy for them to juggle the different Shadows they were facing, making combat a lot smoother for the Thieves. Akechi, being the kind of bastard that he is, clicked his tongue. With a wave of his hand, he summoned three more Shadows, each looking more deadly than the last.

“Finish them.”

A snap of his fingers and all three Shadows leaped into combat with roars. They were deflected by Oracle’s Final Guard, blocked the initial rush of attacks.

“What the hell, why can he just keep spawning more?! Does it end?!” Oracle whined.

“He can keep spawning them because he can just pull them from the Palace!” Mona yelled, dodging an Agidyne from the Cerberus. “As long as we’re here, it doesn’t matter how many we kill!”

“What the fuck?!”

Joker’s grip weakened for a moment. A blast of ice was launched towards his hand, knocking the dagger out of it and freezing his hand from the wrist down. Joker cursed, jumping back and bracing himself.

The Final Guard barrier broke, and the three Shadows rushed forward, each aiming for the disarmed leader.

“Joker!”

Joker looked away as he felt the wind of rushing weapons aiming straight for his head. This was it. He would die here.

~~~

“Apollo, Counter!”

And just as suddenly, hope immediately filled in Joker’s heart at the familiar voice.

A dull banging was all he heard when he looked up. A shield had formed around him, blocking all the attacks from the Shadows. In front of him was a familiar silhouette, one that he was so relieved at seeing.

Sky turned with a smile. “Missed me?”

“You have no idea.” Sky chuckled at Joker's response.

He then turned back to the Shadows, face hardening. “Supernova!”

From behind the shield, Apollo fired a blast of light, spearing through all Shadows in the vicinity, even the ones behind them. In a blink of an eye, all that’s left of the fierce Shadows they were fighting was just dust.

Akechi hummed, a smile slowly growing on his face. “There you are.”

“Oh, hi there, fancy seeing you here. How’ve you been?” Sky asked sarcastically, a fake smile on his face.

“Truly, I made a mistake that day. You just seem to get in my way all the time, don’t you, Aozora?”

“Oh, do I? My apologies, I certainly don’t mean to. It’s just that you murder a lot of people, and there’s just such a huge chance to overlap.”

A vein popped on Akechi’s forehead behind his mask. “You really get on my nerves, do you know?” His smile was dangerous.

“Oh, I’m fully aware. Nice to see I’m having the intended effect.” Sky’s grin was cheeky. “I live to piss you off, after all.”

Akechi’s smile turned into a deep scowl. He pulled his pistol and fired rapidly, but something strange happened. The bullets seemed to distort in the air, and by the time they were in front of Sky, they were just squashed pieces of metal that barely flew faster than a butterfly.

“What the-” Akechi shot a few more times to no avail. He growled, brandishing his sword.

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you~,” Sky called in a singsong tone. Akechi ignored him, dashing for him directly, sword pointed straight for his head. The navigator made no move at all, simply standing there and rocking back and forth on his heels.

One step too close, and Sky’s eyes gleamed. “I warned you.”

Psychic waves tore him apart, shredding his skin and exposing the flesh underneath. Immediately after, he was struck by fire and lightning, burning him and paralyzing the exposed nerves. He was launched back, slamming against the wall far away from them.

Joker’s jaw dropped wide open. What was that, he was about to ask, but Sky’s attention wasn’t on him.

“Good job, guys!”

Noir, Skull, and Panther dropped from the rafters, pleased smiles on their faces. They exchanged high fives when they approached Sky.

“That was indeed satisfying, and it worked like you said it would!” Noir giggled, a hand resting on her battle axe. Skull moved over to Joker to help support him, while Panther joined Queen and Mona in trying to help Fox recover consciousness.

“Hey, sorry we’re late. You all okay?” Skull asked, giving Joker a grin. “Rat traps are hell.”

“Well, better late than never. Things were looking a bit grim, not going to lie to you.” He guided Joker back to the rest, and left him in Queen’s arms.

“The battle’s not over yet, so rest up while you can. Replenish yourselves. Noir, Sky, and I’ll hold him off, so rejoin us when you feel like you can.” Joker nodded, taking a seat on the metal floor. Skull rested his club on his shoulder and rejoined Sky and Noir, who were having a pleasant conversation while keeping an eye on Akechi.

“You think he’s dead?” Well, pleasant is subjective.

“Nah, he shouldn’t die from that. Gravely injured, most likely, but not dead. He’s stronger than that. Plus, he hasn’t even been using Loki at all. He’s still holding back.” Sky sounded calm, as if he was speaking about what he planned to have for dinner and not about a serial murderer’s life.

“You guys are weird,” Skull whispered, earning amused looks and a giggle from Noir.

“Everyone’s fine?”

Skull nodded. “With Panther there, they should be fine. Told them we three could handle him for a bit, now just need to stall enough for everyone to recover properly and we’re golden.”

Sky hummed, looking back at Akechi’s unmoving body. “Well, if anything, he’s the one stalling. I would suggest tying him up, but I don’t think getting close to him right now is a good idea. Can do this, though.”

Sky conjured some knives, once again hovering them in the air. “Really, I started doing this for fun, but this has to be the best way to use my ability. It’s just so easy to aim like this. No wind resistance, no worries about travel time, it’s amazing.”

“I never thought about using my ability in the form of a weapon before…but would it work for mine?” Noir wondered out loud.

“I don’t know about yours, but the more stable elements should be able to. I think Fox can if he tries, and Panther should be able to if she practiced.” Sky then turned to Skull. “Have you tried? I feel like it would be the coolest if you had it.”

Skull shrugged. “Never really tried it. It’s hard for me to practice without blowing fuses here and there, so never really used my powers.”

“Oh, maybe I’ll set up a room for us to practice. Who knows, this might come in handy one day!” Well, it wasn’t as if Skull was opposed to it.

“That’ll be interesting. I know Mona and I can definitely help in training, plus Fox and Queen have been practicing quite a lot.” Sky’s mouth twitched, and without a word, he launched a knife, hitting directly above where Akechi was slowly getting up. The injured killer immediately stopped moving.

“Don’t think I didn’t hear you, Akechi.”

The detective let out a low chuckle. “You little shits…” he muttered.

“I don’t want to kill you, Akechi, but I will if I must.” Sky’s face was stony, unwavering.

“Oh, really?” A dark aura surrounded him, slowly growing. Sky narrowed when he saw dark tendrils reach out. One of those tendrils touched the knife of light he had launched earlier, immediately dissolving it when it came into contact. “How nice…”

“Huh…” Sky fired all his knives, and as he expected, Akechi destroyed all of them with a single wave of his hand. The darkness surrounded him, forming a cocoon around the injured detective.

“Here we go. You both ready?” Noir and Skull readied their weapons, a hand at their side ready to reach up for their mask at a single command.

“You fools will never understand what I have gone through!” Darkness exploded and spread throughout the room, dimming the lights above them. Akechi was no longer in his Robin Hood costume but was wearing the outfit of the Black Mask. “You think I had a choice? You think I could have the luxury of sparing others?! No, in this world, it’s kill or be killed. Now, descend, Loki!”

A black and white striped figure with a large sword appeared behind Akechi, taking the place of Robin Hood. It waved its sword, and the darkness grew, blanketing the entire room in darkness. Panicked cries came from behind them, but Sky remained still. He reached a hand up to his face.

“This is looking bad…” Skull whispered softly, eyes darting around in the darkness.

“Don’t falter.”

Sky’s voice was truly a beacon of hope. Apollo stood, unwavering.

“If you’re going all out, I suppose it’s only fair if I do so too.”

Apollo opened his mouth and began to sing. Its voice was layered, almost as if an entire chorus was singing a hymn. Skull had to doubt his eyes for a moment when the music took form, turning into light in front of him that surrounded him.

Behind them, the rest of the Thieves looked in amazement as a field of light grew below them. Even Oracle, who had come down from Prometheus after Akechi was sent flying, was shocked. This was like nothing they have ever seen before.

The field began glowing until it hurt to look straight at it, forcing everyone to close their eyes. When they opened it again, the room was back to normal, the darkness gone. The Thieves also noticed that they were no longer injured, their heavy wounds all gone. Fox began to stir in his rest, eyes slowly fluttering open.

“Hymn of Light. It’s stylish, huh? Quite exhausting to use, though.” Sky smirked when he saw a flash of irritation on Akechi’s face. “How lucky my magic pool is absolutely massive.”

“You really do get on my nerves. How I wish to see a look of despair on your face.”

Akechi readied his sword, while Noir and Skull took a step forward, their weapons up. Sky took a step back and summoned Apollo again, who readied his bow.

A tense moment passed. One, two…

Three.

Akechi moved like a shadow, but Sky was faster. An arrow hit him on the shoulder, causing him to falter for a moment. The navigator didn’t let up, firing rapidly. The killer growled and lashed out with darkness, dissolving his attacks as well as the arrow in his shoulder.

“Noir!”

A wall of psychic force shoved Akechi back, but he resisted it, grunting. Once the attack passed, he rushed in once again, a shield of darkness blocking Sky’s incoming attacks.

A dark tendril lashed out towards Skull, who prepared to take the attack. The attack was strange, not any form of attack that Sky was aware of. It wasn’t a form of Curse attack, so what was it? Akechi grinned.

It was just when the tendril was about to hit Skull when Sky’s eyes blew wide open. “No, Skull!”

Apollo appeared by Skull’s side in a flash, blocking the attack. At such a close range, Sky fired a blast of light, pushing Akechi further back.

“Don’t get hit by those tendrils, even if it’s your Persona!”

Akechi cackled. “Oh, did you figure it out?”

“Sky, what’s wrong?” Oracle asked from above them. Behind them, the Thieves all prepared themselves for combat. Sky’s face was set in a frown.

“Those cause you to go psychotic, don’t they?”

Akechi’s laugh grew louder. “I should’ve expected it from you, Aozora.”

“Akechi, why are you doing all of this?! I thought we were friends!” Akechi turned silent at Joker’s exclamation.

“Friends…? How naïve are you?” Akechi turned his dead stare towards Joker. “You shouldn’t get to talk at all, you idiot.”

He raised “Loki, Brave Blade!”

The Persona appeared with a flourish, dashing forward with its sword right behind it. Once it was close enough, it swung its sword in a deadly arc, straight for Sky’s head. The light Persona user leaped out of the way, his face an inch away from the blade’s tip.

Sky reached into the pouch by his side, pulling out and flinging three knives in Akechi’s direction. He easily deflected it all with his saber.

Joker approached Sky, resting a hand on his shoulder. When the heir turned around, he whispered, “What’s the plan?”

“Oh, no idea, really. Just going off of instinct. You all recovered?” He sneaked a look behind him to see that, yes, all the Thieves were ready to engage in the fight. His Hymn of Light had cured all their wounds and replenished some of their magic. They weren’t at their tip-top shape, but good enough to continue fighting.

“Too many people in combat would do more harm than good. You can take over for a bit. I’ll be backup. You decide what we do, leader.”

Joker nodded, turning back to face Akechi. The killer was just standing there, waiting. For what, he wasn’t sure. The tendrils around him were still there, albeit not lashing out as much as it did earlier. It gave Akechi an aura of danger, making it hard for them to not be on guard. Well, most of them.

He was still considered around the high 60s in terms of level, and Sky was at a 75. In terms of raw strength, if it was a clear one-on-one, it was obvious who would win. But of course, normal combat wouldn’t be like this.

“Queen, Skull, Mona!” The three Thieves called gathered by Joker’s side, ready for combat.

“You think you small fry can stop me?! I’ve been working for years!” Loki swiped at all of them with his sword and chained that with a Megidolaon. Mona was there to cast a healing spell, however, which negated the damage dealt.

“Phantom Thieves, Starburst!” The four of them split up, the other four each shadowing one of them. Fox and Mona were on Akechi’s left, Skull and Queen on his right, Panther and Noir behind, and Joker and Sky at the front. Oracle hovered above all of them, preparing for the incoming rush of attacks.

“I’ve been dealt an unfair hand since birth! A mess of a mother because some dickhead of a father decided to leave her! Now, I’ll show him…” Akechi was muttering to himself at this point. “Shido’ll know the true pain of what I felt!”

“Shido?” Joker stage whispered.

“Yes, that piece of shit was my father! He left my mother once I was born, and we suffered because of it! She went mad! He…” Akechi’s voice cracked, but he shook his head. “I’ll kill him!”

“Don’t you think you’ve killed enough people?! Thieves, fire!”

Blasts of physical and magical attacks came from all sides, aimed straight for Akechi. He tried to jump out, but Oracle interjected, forming a barrier above him so that he was trapped.

The attacks soon fizzled out, leaving a large cloud of dust. Panther and Noir went over to Fox and Mona. “Did we get him?”

“You wish.”

They only had a moment to react before dark tendrils shot out from the smoke, heading straight in all directions.

“Final Guard!” Oracle yelled, pulling up a barrier for Panther, Mona, Fox, and Noir.

“Apollo, protect them!” The Persona dashed and formed a shield in front of Queen and Skull.

“Get out of the way!” Joker couldn’t even react in time as he was shoved back by Sky, falling on his butt.

He heard a sickening crunch and quickly turned back.

Sky had gone limp, impaled by two tentacles through his chest. His mouth was wide open in a silent scream, eyes wide hidden behind his goggles. A shaky hand came up to weakly try to pull out the appendage in him, but his struggle was futile.

Akechi cackled, eyes sparkling with madness. “Yes! Just like that! It’s your turn to feel true despair!”

Joker felt his heart break as Sky began to shout in pain, the tendrils in him squirming wildly. He attempted to break free to no avail, only falling over when Akechi withdrew the dark limbs from his chest.

“Sky!” Joker cried, immediately running over to Sky’s side.

“Now, rise,” Akechi whispered, and Sky began to stir, standing up. He walked slowly towards Akechi, stopping when he was a few feet away. Akechi’s grin grew sinister.

“And attack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hymn of Light: Fully heals all allies and recovers a tiny amount of SP (like enough for one single target -dyne cast) to all allies excluding the caster. (96 SP)
> 
> To be honest, I feel like this is the most OP ability Hikaru will have. That's why I tried to balance it accordingly by slapping that huge SP cost on it. I also try to avoid using it more than once per battle, because otherwise this'll be stupidly broken.


	42. No More Doubt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Akechi's fight.

“Attack.”

At Akechi’s command, Sky had turned around and faced them. He pulled off his mask and summoned his Persona. All of them gasped in horror.

Apollo looked like he was in pain, tranquil expression now twisted in agony and suffering. The bright blue flames that they commonly associated with their Personas were dyed a dark red, casting an ominous light on all of them. Sky’s face was painful to see.

“Sky...” Joker muttered softly in shock. His eyes were not blue, but instead a blood red. Veins grew at the edge of the whites of his eyes. His jaw was tight, but no expression formed on his face.

“Apollo, Solar Flare!”

When Sky commanded his Persona, his voice came out rough and groggy, as if he hadn’t spoken for ages. It was far from the smooth and casual tone they were used to.

“Split!” came the order from Oracle. Everyone immediately jolted into action, forgetting that they were still in the midst of combat.

With a roar from Apollo, a beam of light blasted in their direction. Thanks to Oracle’s warning, however, they managed to avoid it.

“Oh, a shame, isn’t it?! How you have to fight your friend?!” Akechi taunted, laughing while he did. He rested a hand on Sky’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch him!” Joker yelled, shock turning into anger. He fired a Psiodyne to shove Akechi back.

A barrier deflected the attack.

Akechi grinned, leaning his weight onto the unresponsive Sky. The heir was staring at where the attack had come from, but otherwise didn’t react at all.

“Now you can’t even attack me. I suppose it’s a stroke of luck for me. I managed to turn the strongest Phantom Thief onto my side.” A hand came to stroke Sky’s cheek. “You will be the key to my success.”

“You’re sick!” Panther yelled, summoning her Persona. “Burn it all, Hecate!”

Beams of fire shot from Hecate’s chained dog heads, aimed straight for Akechi. However, once again, it was deflected easily with Apollo’s power.

“I suppose our first order of business is to get rid of you imbeciles,” Akechi whispered, looking over to the Thieves. “Heal me.”

Sky wordlessly rested a hand on Akechi. A bright glow from him fully healed Akechi, curing the injuries he took from Sky’s own assault just a moment ago.

“Much better.” He turned back to the Thieves, who were staring at him with anger. “Now, I suppose I should end this charade. Take care of everyone else.”

Akechi moved with renewed vigor, no longer burdened by his injuries. He went straight for Queen, who blocked his saber with her fists.

_“Keep him stalled, I’ll try to get to Sky!”_

“Joker, help Queen out! It’s just him, you guys can handle him!” She yelled as a way to distract Akechi.

Within Prometheus, Oracle muttered to herself, “Come on…come on…think, Futaba, think!”

Scans of Sky showed that his mind wasn’t experiencing the symptoms of a psychotic breakdown. In fact, Sky was perfectly fine.

Oracle scratched her head in confusion. What the hell did this mean, then? Everything was fine, so what did that attack do? Sky said it was supposed to turn people psychotic, so what happened?

Was it because he had a Persona of its own, or because Akechi was using this power on something other than a Shadow? Or could this just be a different attack altogether?

She had to figure it out, but later. For now, she needed to try and get Sky back. He was their greatest asset.

_“Sky, can you hear me?!”_

_…_

“Radio silence, huh…” Oracle continued typing on her console. There must be some way for her to clear this debuff, or she’s no Oracle!

But what’s the problem? She couldn’t even figure that out. The only clue that she has is that it was linked to his Persona since Apollo also suffered the effects. That must mean it has something to do with his inner self or his sense of self.

Was this a question of his inner morals, then?

Back below her, Akechi was locked in intense combat on two sides. The Thieves might have the number advantage, but Akechi was stronger, faster, and more experienced. The only one who could even attempt to hit his level was Joker, who was really running fully on adrenaline and anger, and Queen, who had been trained in self-defense.

“Supernova!” Everyone else was kept in check by Sky, his attacks hitting a large enough area to keep everyone distracted. Apollo’s arrows split into multiple shots, making it hard for any of them to even take their attention off of him long enough to do anything.

“Fox, could you provide us cover?!” Mona requested, barely dodging another beam of light. The artist complied, forming a dome of ice for them to take a brief respite.

“I don’t know how long this will last, but it should buy us some time,” Fox said, adding an extra layer of ice to strengthen the dome.

“How the fuck do we snap Sky out of it without hurting him?” Skull asked, looking at the ice dome warily. The attacks from outside were already causing the dome to shake.

“Oracle, how’re things going?” Fox asked.

_“I don’t know what’s wrong!”_

“What do you mean?!” Mona cried.

_“His vitals and everything is fine! There’s no physical or mental problem with him! I don’t know how to fix it!”_

“What do we do, then?” Panther asked, stressed.

_“I don’t know, just say shit! Since his Persona and mentality were both affected, maybe it’s something similar to hypnosis? Usually, with hypnosis, mental stress is enough to snap the victim out, so just say things!”_

“God, this feels like a shounen manga,” Skull grumbled to himself just in time as the dome broke. Arrows of light awaited them, shooting in immediately once the ice shattered.

“Makarakarn!” Noir commanded, forming a shield to protect all of them from the rays of light.

“Sky, you have to stop it!” She continued yelling, reflecting the attacks to their user, which did nothing.

“Snap out of it!” Panther caught on to what Noir was trying to do and doubled down on it. “Hecate, get to him!”

Blasts of fire were launched towards him, slamming against Apollo’s shield.

Sky jolted from the others’ words, but his expression didn’t change at all.

Oracle noticed this, however, and exploited it. _“Keep going! I think it’s working, even if just a little bit!”_

“This is actually a fucking manga!” Skull yelled, summoning his Persona. “Charge in, Seiten Taisei! We’re getting close and personal! Mona, get on!” The cat leaped on, clinging tightly while both of them charged forward, dodging Sky’s attacks.

“Megaton Raid!”

The Persona slammed his pole against Sky’s shield, keeping Sky’s attention focused on it while Skull and Mona tried to get to Sky.

“Dude! You need to stop! Akechi’s controlling you, you need to snap out of it!” Skull pounded a fist on the barrier to emphasize his point.

The only effect his words had was a slight frown.

Sky reached into his pouch and pulled out some throwing knives, hurling them straight towards Skull. Mona easily knocked them away with a gust of wind, sending them all over the place. “You’re stronger than this, Sky! Don’t let Akechi win!”

Sky let out an audible grunt. The veins in his eyes crawled back on his sclera, making his eyes appear almost normal. His voice was but a whisper, but normal.

“What…?”

“Wait, this is actually working?” Panther asked in surprise. “Holy shit!”

~~~

“I didn’t lie when I said we could’ve been friends, Akechi!” Joker yelled, still refraining from attacking Akechi. To be perfectly honest, at this moment of time, he loathed Akechi with his entire being. He couldn’t forget what Akechi had done to Hikaru after Okumura’s Palace. Add onto that what he just did, and Joker was livid.

The only thing stopping him from trying his best to kill Akechi right here and now was his own morals and judgement. He has yet to kill anyone, and he doesn’t think he could, even if he really wanted to.

It also helps that Queen was just opposite of him, behind Akechi. Her presence really helped ground his thinking.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit too late, now? You tried, and you failed. Now die.” Akechi rushed without another word, Joker barely blocking the blade aimed for his throat. He jumped to the side quickly, avoiding the fist coming from behind him.

“You don’t have to do what Shido tells you to do, you know?” Queen didn’t sound angry, just tired. “I don’t want to fight you, Akechi.”

“That’s what you all always say!” He cried all of a sudden, taking both Thieves by surprise.

“Oh, we could’ve been friends if you weren’t a murderer. You think I had a choice?! I wanted revenge, Joker! I was left alone in this world, and someone above decided to give me such power. The fact that you don’t understand this proves it, you naïve piece of shit!” He pulled out his pistol, firing straight at Joker.

“Because you’re not telling me anything!” Joker reflected it with a blast of wind. “How can we help if you’re not telling us anything?!”

“Enough of this!” Queen’s voice was authoritative, shocking both of them. “You both made faults, some a lot more legally serious than others, but get over it! You both want to get revenge on Shido, don’t you?! What’s the point of fighting?!”

“We’re too different to be teammates!” Akechi continued firing, tears starting to well up and mess his aim up. “You’ve had everything I wanted, even though we’re the same! And I’m fucking jealous, are you happy?!”

He shrugged his tears off, his natural scowl coming back. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I need to prove it to myself at this point. That I can beat you!”

Loki shot Curse energy towards Joker, who stood right in front of the attack. “Nebiros!” he called.

The Persona appeared, shooting the attack back with a wave of its hand. Akechi swore, shaking the attack off and attacking again, this time with a Megidolaon.

“Marakukaja!” Anat surrounded both Joker and Queen in a purple light as both of them took the attack. Even with their defenses increased, it still did a large amount of damage, but not enough to take them out of the fight.

“Mediarama!” And just as easily, the damage was healed.

Akechi growled. If he kept going, he wasn’t going to last. The Thieves had recovery spells, whereas he didn’t. He needed to get back to Sky and get a touch-up. Sky’s magic pool naturally allowed him to use multiple strong spells in succession without too much worry, so he didn’t need to worry about him running out anytime. He laughed internally at the thought. The Thieves’ greatest weapon, truly. With Sky on his side, he didn’t need to worry about losing at all.

A large flash of light shook all of them. Akechi hurriedly turned back towards Sky, his eyes widening at what he saw.

“Impossible!”

~~~

“What…?”

Sky grunted as he felt a rush of pain in his head. What was happening?

Oracle gasped. “It’s working! Keep going!”

Sky stumbled, his eyes flashing between crimson and his natural sky blue. His breath quickened as he clutched his chest, feeling an aching sensation in his body.

“Sky! We know you’re there, come back to us!” Mona cried, still staying a distance back in case another attack came.

Sky groaned, falling onto his knees. A hand reached over to his head, grasping it tightly as he resisted the urge to scream.

“What…am I doing? Why am I…?”

**_No. These people are liars. They plan to betray you again, just like everyone before._ **

Sky felt his mind rewire, dying his vision in red. The Thieves were his enemies. But then what was this feeling of pain, of heartbreak? If they were really his enemies, why did he feel bad about it? He slowly got back onto his feet, lowering his hands.

“Apollo!” Sky closed his eyes when Apollo launched the attack. His heart ached when he fired the attack.

_“Sky! This isn’t you! Come back to us!”_

His eyes snapped open, temporarily stunned. Apollo, sensing the conflict in his master’s head, halted its attack. The flames around the Persona grew blue at the edges.

“Why…?” He tried to say, but it came out distorted. “What’s happening?”

**_I am a friend. These people tried to hurt you. They tried to kill you. Trust me._ **

His mind naturally told him to listen to the soothing, masculine voice in his head, but something twisted in his gut. This didn’t seem right. Another burst of pain spread in his head, causing him to let out another groan.

_“You’re one of us!”_

Who does he believe? The weird voice in his head, or whatever these people were saying? He doesn’t want to get hurt again. He was sick of heartbreak, he needed to think. Nothing makes sense. Listening to his heart always caused him pain. He needed to use his brain.

Sky screamed in frustration, blasting everything around him with a flash of light, knocking everyone back. He sat down, pulling his knees close to his chest and hiding his head in it. He needed time to think, and everyone around him is just screaming things. He can’t think like this. He curled up, feeling light surround him.

“What’s happening to me…?” His surroundings darkened slowly, turning into a dark landscape. Everything was covered in fog and mist, only him as far as the eye can see.

Out of nowhere, a limousine drove by, coming to a stop beside him. Hikaru slowly looked up as a woman dressed similarly to the Velvet Room attendants stepped out, looking around with a passive expression.

“Are you the one that Elizabeth and Theodore told me about?”

Something about the woman’s curly shoulder-length hair, the way she walked, even her manner of speaking seemed familiar to Hikaru. She felt safe.

Hikaru nodded slowly, getting on his feet. “…You are?”

“My name is Margaret, the oldest of the Velvet attendants. I personally wanted to meet you, Hikaru Aozora, and thank you for your assistance during these trying times.” She gestured towards the open door of the limousine. “Please, come in and take a seat.”

Hikaru entered with Margaret behind him, the car beginning to move in a moment. It was well furnished, with velvet-blue lighting accenting the theme of the Velvet Room. He immediately realized he was in the Velvet Room, or a form of it.

Soon, they were cruising at a moderate speed, but the environment didn’t change, still a dark, cloudy, mess.

“Now, I would first like to start by properly showing my gratitude.” Margaret bowed while sitting, eyes closed in courtesy. “I have only recently heard about what happened from my colleagues, so forgive me for my tardiness in joining the efforts to save my master. I have been preoccupied in previous matters, and am only able to come to your aid now. For that, I apologize fully. Thank you for accepting their offer, and for doing as much as you have thus far.”

Hikaru nodded, not sure how to respond. Margaret seemed to be the most mature out of all of them, even the way she talked just oozes maturity and elegance. There were more pressing issues, however.

“Not that I am unappreciative of your gratitude, but was that the only reason I was brought here?”

Margaret tilted her head, her confusion clear.

“Brought here?”

It was Hikaru’s turn to be confused. “Was I not in the Metaverse, fighting some sort of battle?” He didn’t quite remember, his mind was foggy as all hell.

“I sensed your presence wandering aimlessly in the Sea of Souls, and immediately after, I received a message from Elizabeth stating that she had lost contact with you, our client. Thus, I quickly came over to grab you before you wandered too far.”

The car’s lights changed color, transitioning into a purple-blue, and then into a reddish tint. Margaret hummed as she observed the lights, a hand moving to rest on the cushion beside her.

“…You seem to be torn. The state of your heart struggles between two choices. You are at a crossroads.” The clouds around them lifted, revealing two roads. They were at a junction. Hikaru didn’t know when, but the car had stopped moving at some point.

“What will you do? Will you take the path that you believe to be safe, but remain still? Or will you risk it all, and move on?” A coin appeared in her hand. She reached out with a smile, the coin resting on her palm. “Why not let fate decide?”

Hikaru grabbed the coin and stared at it for a moment. It was a strange one. One side had a star surrounded by a circle, while the other had a skull on it.

A blast of blue flames erupted from behind him, settling in front of him. Apollo appeared, face now back to its tranquil state.

 _“I will tread the same path as you, my master. No matter your choice, I will serve.”_ He smiled, vanishing into flames once again.

Margaret, who witnessed everything, hid a smile under her hand. You picked well, she thought to herself.

“We cannot ask for your help any longer, should you choose not to give it to us. This choice is entirely yours,” she reassured. She opened the door to the limousine. “We await your decision.”

Hikaru closed his fist, feeling the piece of metal in his palm. He stepped out, the fog quickly gathering behind him to hide the limousine from view. He was left, once again, at the crossroads.

Images flashed into his mind. Images of his dead friends. Images of a cruel ending. Images of relief, of satisfaction. Images of lost purpose. Images of a country in a panic, of unstable positions. Images of depression, of sadness and heartbreak.

Images of internal war. Images of loneliness.

Hikaru shuddered.

And then more came.

Images of a happy ending. Images of hard times to come. Image of the light at the end of the tunnel, with people beside him.

Images of peace and happiness. Where he was no longer alone.

Apollo was the god of prophecies as well, Hikaru noted to himself. He saw what each path led to.

He flipped the coin, but he didn’t catch it. He didn’t need to.

His choice was made.

Everything turned bright around him, and he was gone.

The coin landed on the ground with a clink, landing on the side with the star. It glowed softly and disappeared with a sheen of blue light.

~~~

“What was that…?” Skull groaned, shaking his head. Sky had collapsed and screamed, sending a pulse of light that blew everyone back. He looked up and gasped.

In the middle of the room, where Sky was, now stood a cocoon-like structure. It was almost creepy, with how still it was in the middle of such intense combat. Akechi rested a hand on the cocoon of light, which shot out with a Kougaon. He quickly pulled back, lest he gets hit by a Bless attack.

He turned to growl at the rest of the Thieves. “What…did you do?!”

Now, he had his back against the wall. He had no way of recovery, he was surrounded and outnumbered, and he was desperate. Very desperate.

“Phantom Thieves, Starburst!” They once again took the previous formation, but this time they spaced themselves evenly. Joker glared at Akechi from the front. “Step away from him!”

“I won’t let my plans die just because you fools decided to get in my way! Loki!” The Persona summoned a beam of energy, shooting it straight at Joker. The leader dodged and fired a Nuclear blast back, bringing the injured killer to his knees.

“No! I won’t accept this!” Dark energy gathered around him, the tendrils from before reforming. Akechi stumbled back onto his feet, a hand coming to rest on his burned arm from the multiple Nuclear attacks he had to take from both Queen and Joker.

“Wait, what’s-” Oracle was interrupted by a flash of bright light emerging from the cocoon. It began to shrink, the outer layers turning into small sparkles that vanished into the air. Everyone paused and looked at it in shock, as each layer slowly dissolved into nothing right before their eyes.

Sky was laying on the floor. Once the last of the cocoon vanished, he stirred, slowly sitting up. His face was hidden under his messy hair, his mouth set in a neutral expression.

“Get him!” Akechi immediately commanded once Sky stood up.

Wordlessly, Sky began walking forward at a slow pace. The Thieves immediately took a battle stance but hesitated. They didn’t want to hurt their ally.

“…Sky?” Joker asked when the navigator stopped right in front of him.

“I trust you.” Joker pulled Sky into a hug, the other letting out a soft sound of surprise. The Thieves nearby made a strange noise. “You mean the world to me. I love you.”

“Joker, that’s…” They trailed off, seeing the soft light that erupted around them. A soft, golden, very familiar light.

“Hymn of Light.”

With a flash of blue flames, Apollo, no longer tormented by invisible forces, sung a calming tone as a circle of light appeared underneath the two of them. Sky looked up, tears gathering in his sky-blue eyes. A happy smile appeared on his face. “And I love you too. If I am the world, then you are the moon that stays by my side.”

Magic circles appeared under all the Thieves, slightly larger than the space that they occupied. The wounds of all the Thieves began to light up, vanishing just as the cocoon did. Panther couldn’t hold back the excited squeal she let out, leading to more cheers as the light around them healed them and recovered their stamina.

“No!” Akechi screamed, his dark tendrils lashing out.

As soon as the tendrils crossed the circle underneath the pair, blades of light shot out, dispelling the dark magic. Loki let out an inhuman screech, as if it suffered extreme pain. Even Akechi, who immediately retracted the tendrils, looked shell-shocked.

“But…how?”

“I’m back. Sorry for worrying you,” Sky whispered in Joker’s arms. He then tried to disentangle himself. “But there is still something that we have to do.”

Joker let his lover go, nodding. “I’ll let you lead. We’re at your command.”

“There’s no need. I can handle this.”

Joker looked concerned. “Are you sure?” he asked, worried.

Sky gave him a reassuring smile. “Yeah. You all done plenty, so it’s time for me to end this.”

Akechi scoffed. “Now you’re looking down on me?! Just because you broke free?!”

“Oh, no, not at all. I see that you’re plenty a threat, which is why I’m serious.” Sky’s face was deadly serious as he approached Akechi. The circle underneath him shrunk, now focused directly under him. A gust of energy gathered around Sky.

“I’ll show you! Loki!” The dark Persona lashed out with his sword, but a wall of light shot out from Sky’s feet, blocking the attack. Akechi took a step back, a momentary look of fear on his face.

“You have hurt everyone too many times, Akechi.” Light gathered by Sky’s feet, shooting upwards in beams. Akechi shook as Sky approached, his presence strong enough to make even the seasoned killer tremble in fear. Sky stopped once he was right in front of Akechi, the detective looking like he was about to piss his pants.

“Boo.” With a small flash of light, Akechi swayed and fell forward, into Sky’s grasp. “And that’s that,” he whispered to himself.

The room was silent for a moment, before erupting in cheers and whooping.

Mona approached Sky, a relieved smile on his face. “You really are kind. None of us would’ve faulted you if you chose to kill him, you know. He did basically torture you.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. We just need someone to testify to Shido’s crimes, and he’s the only one aside from us who knows about the truth of the mental shutdowns,” Sky replied, laying Akechi on the ground. “You can heal him, I can handle his detainment. It wouldn’t be wise for Shido to find him, after all.”

“Yeah. And it’s great to have you back, Sky. You worried us for a moment,” Mona said, but immediately slipping into his tough act, “not like I was or anything. I knew that you would’ve been fine!”

Sky laughed, patting Mona on the head. “Glad to be back, Mona. Now, the real question.” He turned his attention to the unconscious person in front of him. “How the hell do we get this into the real world and into my hotel room without people asking questions?”

“Oh, he really did fail.”

Everyone turned their heads towards the voice. It was Akechi, but the cognitive one. The one Shido thought of. With all that happened, it kind of slipped their mind that they were still in Shido’s Palace.

The Shadow Akechi sighed, taking his pistol out. “Truly, Shido had placed his expectations too high. Well, a bit ahead of plan, but I suppose it’s fine.”

Sky raised an eyebrow. “Ahead of plan?”

“Well, he’s a murderer. It wouldn’t be right to let him go scot-free, now would it?” The Shadow said with a crooked smile. “We need to make sure that there are no ties between Shido and the shutdowns. And what better way than to make sure it never happens anymore? In fact, people would think Shido’s presence stopped the mental shutdown events. A perfect ending, no?”

“Then here’s the real question. What makes you think we’ll let you kill him?” The Thieves flocked around Joker, who stood in front of Sky.

“Oh, I don’t think you have a choice.”

The Shadow transformed into its true form, a mosquito’s head with a hornet’s sting, holding a staff made of bones and wearing a necklace of skulls. Clear, transparent wings sprouted from its back, and large, red compound eyes grew on its face.

“This one’s strong…almost overpowered!” Oracle muttered. The magic ability of the Shadow was almost double Mona’s, who, sure, wasn’t their main magic damage source, but was still quite important when it came to magical damage output.

The Thieves got ready for combat, but then noticed the light gathering behind them. Sky was standing there, Apollo behind him with his bow ready. The light in his arrow was glowing brightly, sparks occasionally jumping from it. 

“Move!” Everyone got out of the way of the attack.

“Solar Eclipse!”

The room darkened as Apollo fired, making the arrow seem even brighter than it already was. The arrow morphed into a bright ball of light, burning the Shadow’s skin off easily as well as searing its multiple compound eyes. It shrieked and fell onto its back, six mosquito legs wiggling around wildly.

Now, while the Shadow was blinded, Sky called out. “All-Out Attack!”

The Thieves rushed in for the kill, brutalizing the Shadow until all that was left was a mangled mess. They all wanted to take their rage out on something, and really, Cognitive Akechi’s timing was impeccable.

Queen huffed as she flicked some Shadow blood off her knuckles. “That felt good.”

“I must agree!” Noir said with a smile, resting her axe on her shoulder. “It feels good to beat Akechi up into a pulp!”

“Alright, team, real question.” Everyone turned to Sky. “How do we get him out?” Sky asked, nudging the unconscious Akechi with his foot. Mona had healed most of his wounds, leaving some so that he wouldn’t be at full strength should he wake up.

“Uhh…”

~~~

By some miracle and probably some convenient flashes of light, they managed to make it all the way back to the hotel without anyone finding out. They had to basically cut the power for a few seconds for them to make it to the elevator area, and then quickly get in one before anyone noticed. It took a lot of effort, but they did it.

Ryuji huffed, dropping Akechi on the sofa. “Why the fuck is he so heavy?!”

“Alright, I’m just gonna…” Hikaru slumped onto the sofa, face down. Everyone looked at each other, and then back at the motionless heir on the couch.

“Well…” Makoto said, taking a seat by the dining table. “I suppose we should discuss what to do with Akechi.”

“Just leave him here. I can handle him,” Hikaru replied, muffled by the couch.

“Are you sure?” Akira asked, rightfully concerned. “What if he tries to kill you in your sleep?”

“With what weapon? Just remove his weapons right now and take the kitchen knives on your way out and we’re good. I can control my powers well enough to defend myself.” Hikaru waved his left hand without looking up, forming multiple sorts of weapons in front of him. Swords, bows, shields, axes, lances, spears, maces, everything you could think of, all made of light.

“Well…I suppose that is better than leaving him alone. If anything, Shido might take his disappearance as betrayal. It would be better for him to just remain hidden for now, and this room is practically invisible,” Akira said out loud.

“Hikaru’s right. Akechi’s phone’s already full of messages and missed calls. He’s been gone for the entire day,” Futaba informed them. “I could just encrypt it so they aren’t able to call.”

“Shouldn’t you make it untraceable first? We don’t want anyone learning of this place as a hideout,” Haru responded, taking a seat beside Makoto.

“Already done, been like that since the start of Sae’s Palace. I’ll do the rest later, then they should get the idea.” Futaba, once again, raided the fridge and cupboard for food. “Did you stock up on instant yakisoba?”

She hummed happily when she found it. “Nice.”

“Then…I guess this is fine?” Ann said, scratching her head.

Hikaru rolled over. “I guess, yeah. If anything comes up, I can call you guys. Who wants the gun?”

“Oh, I’ll take it. I’m sure I can hand it over to Iwai to dismantle or something. Maybe a birthday present or something.” Akira reached into Akechi’s vest, taking the gun and silencer out and slipping it into his bag.

“I guess that’s everything.” Makoto got up, rolling her shoulders. “I suppose I should be heading home. There is school tomorrow, and I’m exhausted. We need to think about what to do for the calling card, but we can do that some other day. We have plenty of time until the election, so for once, we don’t have to worry too much about it.”

Ryuji suppressed a yawn. “Yeah, same. I’m pooped. Guess we can break for the day?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sky: 210 HP, 334 SP  
> Apollo: LVL 75  
> \- Solar Flare: Severe Bless Damage to one foe. (48 SP)  
> \- Supernova: Severe Bless Damage to all foes. (54 SP)  
> \- Sun's Gift: Full heal and stat recover, basically a single target Salvation. (30 SP)  
> \- Critical Strike: Boost attack to become crit. (Free cost)  
> \- Spell Master: Half all SP costs (Innate)  
> \- Hymn of Light: Fully heals all allies and recovers a tiny amount of SP (like enough for one single target -dyne cast) to all allies excluding the caster. (96 SP)  
> \- Solar Eclipse: Colossal Bless Damage to one foe. (64 SP)


	43. A New Normal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chill chapter after the events of the last few.

Akechi stirred when Hikaru was having dinner. He had showered after everyone had left and ordered dinner. He was unsure if Akechi would wake up in time, had gotten an extra set of pasta to go with his. A great idea, really. It was a small flash of light anyway, so Akechi being knocked out for a solid few hours was already longer than he thought.

The detective slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Where…?”

“You awake?” Hikaru asked, mouth full of pasta.

Akechi jolted up, panicked eyes looking around. He locked his gaze onto Hikaru, who was slurping some pasta. Hikaru looked at him, and then down to the plate of pasta in front of him.

“Hungry?”

Just as he said that, Akechi’s stomach growled. The detective tried to ignore it, his face slightly flushing in embarrassment.

“Wait, what the fuck happened?!” He yelled.

Hikaru took a moment to chew his food before he talked again. “I ordered pasta. Do you want it, or do I just eat yours too? I’m hungry, Akechi, and this is good pasta. Decide.”

“No, not that, you fool! What the hell happened to me?! Why am I here?!”

Hikaru clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Can you like, not yell? Do you know the concept of an indoor voice?”

“Answer me!”

“Sheesh, talk about demanding.” Hikaru rolled his eyes, taking a sip of soda. “You passed out and we brought you here. I don’t really know what you want me to explain.”

“But…why?” Well, at least he quieted down.

“Because I don’t want to kill you? I thought I said that multiple times already. Do you really not listen to the things I say? I get it, I say stupid shit sometimes, but like, it was a serious monologue.”

Akechi’s eyes narrowed. “Does everything that come out of your mouth contain sarcasm?”

“I don’t know, you’re the detective, you tell me,” Hikaru retorted, returning the glare.

A tense moment passed, and Akechi relented with a humph. He got up and went over to the table, taking a seat and grabbing the fork Hikaru passed him.

“…Thanks for the food,” he whispered and took a bite, earning a smile from Hikaru.

“See, was it that hard to be a decent person?”

“I want to shoot you right now. Where’s my gun?”

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, leaning forward on his hand. “You think I’ll let you keep a gun? I’m not an idiot, Akechi.”

“So, explain. What happened?”

Hikaru recounted what happened after Akechi passed out, from his Shadow to them getting him out. His tone turned slightly sad when he mentioned Shido’s plan, looking at Akechi for any reaction.

The detective showed none.

He only spoke once Hikaru finished. “…So, he planned to kill me, anyway.” Akechi was looking down, biting his lip. He seemed to have no fight in him left, his eyes dull.

“…Yeah.” Hikaru took another small bite of pasta.

“I should’ve expected it. That man wouldn’t risk the chance of being affiliated with someone like me.” Akechi’s tone was filled with venom. “I should’ve just killed him.”

Hikaru sighed, closing his eyes. “Killing everyone doesn’t solve problems, you know?”

“Seemed to work so far.”

Hikaru scoffed. “Do you have no sense of morals or ethics?”

Akechi gave him a deadpan. “I’ve been killing people for years. Do you think I care?”

Hikaru rested his fork on the plate. “Fair enough. Regardless, by this point, Shido has probably assumed you dead or a traitor. I don’t think you can leave even if you wanted to.”

“Shido’s not that impatient. He would just assume I’m busy in the Metaverse.”

“Oh, really?” Hikaru asked with an eyebrow raised. “Your phone is untraceable for the entire day, and you haven’t answered any of his calls. Elections are looming ever closer. Isn’t he?”

“…” Akechi silently checked his phone, and sure enough, there were almost ten missed calls from Shido, all the way from this afternoon to about an hour ago, which then cut off for no reason.

“Futaba encrypted your phone, so they can’t call it. We can’t afford info leaks, Akechi.” Hikaru crossed his arms, leaning back on his chair. “I’m basically putting you in quarantine until we sort out Shido.”

“And what’s stopping me from leaving?”

Akechi felt something sharp poke the back of his neck. He immediately stiffened, a drop of cold sweat running down his back. Hikaru smirked. “That’s stopping you. I don’t like making death threats, but those seem like the only thing that works with you, so I’ll have to make do.”

Akechi gulped. “…Fine.”

“Great!” Hikaru smiled, and Akechi felt the sharp point of the knife behind him disappear. “Well, you can stay here for now. I’m pretty sure it’ll be beneficial for you anyway if you don’t appear in public, especially considering what Shido might do.”

“…I hate to admit it, but there’s logic in that.” Akechi took another bite of his pasta. He didn’t want to say it, but it was the best damn pasta he has ever eaten, even if it was already a bit cold from being out in the open for a while.

“Nice that you’re seeing sense. Now, I don’t have much for you to do, honestly. You’re better off just using hotel facilities. If you need to, just ask them to rent out the place, say that I gave you clearance. Alright?” Akechi nodded.

“Also, I’m trusting you to not slit my throat open in the middle of the night. Not an outrageous demand, I’m sure. If you prove untrustworthy, maybe I’ll leash you or something. So, for both our sakes, don’t kill people.”

Akechi grinned. “A high demand.”

Hikaru hummed with a smile. “I suppose you can attempt it. See how well you think it’ll go.”

Akechi’s grin faltered.

“In fact, we could make this a challenge. Try to kill me, let’s see how far you can get.”

~~~

Of course, Hikaru regretted making that statement.

“Akechi, can you try to murder me in the morning or something? Don’t appreciate getting woken up every night at like four,” he said drowsily, keeping Akechi surrounded with knives while he rolled over.

Akechi grumbled as the knives nudged him back towards the couch, where he has been sleeping the past two days. Two days meant two assassination attempts with some absurd weapons, really. Through some rummaging in the kitchen, he found a steak knife on the first day. On the second day, he had shattered glass over a soft surface, taking a shard and tried stabbing Hikaru with that.

He, however, didn’t know Hikaru’s sleeping habits. Namely, how he was quite the light sleeper after…recent events. That made it annoying to snap awake every night at whatever goddamn time Akechi decided to get up to kill him.

Aside from that, Hikaru didn’t really have many complaints. Akechi’s quite nice company, good conversation, and he learned how to use his inside voice. According to Futaba, in the past two days, Shido’s been trying to call him multiple times to the point that he was desperate enough to leave voice messages on unencrypted lines. She sent over the file a moment later, which Hikaru listened to together with Akechi.

_“You little shit, you betrayed me, didn’t you?! I’ll find you, and I’ll end you!”_

“Now what’s that about patience?” Hikaru asked, pocketing his phone.

Akechi bit his lip and remained silent.

After that, they seemed to reach a silent agreement. It reached the point where Hikaru just accepted that Akechi was like a roommate. Even Akechi was unknowingly acting like Hikaru’s presence in his life was normal. He had given up on his murder attempts a few days in once he realized that Hikaru had him beat entirely in the real world.

“I’m back,” Hikaru said with a yawn. Akira had wanted to do a Mementos run to clear any last requests before they sent the calling card, both to get the practice in as well as to smooth out possible new formations and battle tactics.

“Welcome back,” Akechi said unconsciously, laying on the couch with a cup of coffee and snuggling in his soft blanket. He was dressed in some comfortable pyjamas.

Hikaru had asked for Akechi’s house address so that he could grab the things he needed when he first moved in, for a lack of a better term. Akechi had asked for his laptop, some clothes, and a good book or two from Jinbocho on his way back. Hikaru decided to get some that looked interesting for himself as well.

“How’d it go?” Akechi idly asked as he flipped the channels. Almost all of them were talking about the election, and he really didn’t care about who won. He knew who would, anyway.

“Good, we cleared quite a lot of piled-up requests. Also did something for the calling card for Futaba. She said we should do a broadcasting hijack to get Shido and the public to listen, and it’ll take her a few days, so Akira called a rest period.”

Akechi hummed. “Sounds interesting. Have fun.”

“I mean, I’m still technically missing. Then again, I guess there’s no reason for that anymore. I could head home, but I don’t trust you on your own. So I’ll be here until Shido’s properly arrested and I can head home.”

Akechi grimaced. “Starting to like the place without you.”

Hikaru jumped on the couch, pulling Akechi close to him. “Aww, don’t be like that, I know you missed me,” he teased.

Akechi just sighed once Hikaru let him go. “You’re insufferable. What’re we having for dinner?”

“What do you want?” Hikaru asked, getting up and handing him the menu.

“Maybe a steak will be nice…” Akechi muttered to himself. “Or maybe fried rice…”

“Let’s go with fried rice. I’ve been eating too much western food anyway.” Hikaru went over to the phone and ordered their meals. He then went upstairs, yelling at Akechi from there. “I’m gonna shower before the food gets here. If it gets here early, mind opening the door?”

“Sure!” Akechi yelled back.

Roommate lifestyle.

~~~

_“Sky!”_

_A blade of light stabbed through Joker’s chest. He heard a wet gurgling sound from Joker’s throat. A dark patch of blood started flowing from his wound, dripping off of the blade in his chest._

_“…I won’t lose trust anymore…” Joker reached out, trying to touch the face of the teen in front of him. His lover. His killer._

_“I love you, Sky.” He coughed, blood splattering onto the ground. Even through the pain, however, he smiled._

_The world melted away, the panic-stricken faces of the Thieves frozen in time. He was alone, Joker bleeding away in his arms. He watched as the life in his lover’s eyes died, his smile slowly settling into a neutral expression._

_He felt no remorse. Just the thrill of another kill._

Akechi woke up, hearing muffled screams coming from upstairs. He stirred, annoyed. What the fuck was Hikaru doing when he decided to sleep properly for once?

“No, no!” Akechi properly woke up at that.

“What…?” He headed upstairs, one step at a time. Hikaru was tossing and turning in his sheets, shaky fists clenching around silk. His eyes were closed tightly, breaths quick and shallow.

“No, I’m sorry, no!”

“Aozora! Wake up!” Akechi tried to shake Hikaru awake, but Hikaru smacked his hands away, cursing in his sleep.

“What the fuck?” Akechi muttered to himself. It’s been almost a week since he had stayed with Hikaru, but this never happened before. It felt almost strange, to see the heir so fragile, so vulnerable. In fact, this was probably a good time as ever to kill him, if he wanted to.

But something in him didn’t. He was starting to, dare he say it, grow fond of his sudden roommate and past enemy. Not to mention, the other Thieves would easily destroy him if they did. There was also the inkling of empathy in his gut as well, seeing such a horrid nightmare plague Hikaru. Not that he planned to ever mention this at all.

“Agh!” Hikaru jumped awake with a scream, eyes wide in panic. He sat up slowly, tears slowly gathering in his blue eyes.

“You alright?” Akechi turned his voice down, sitting at the edge of the large bed.

Hikaru remained silent, pulling his knees against his chest. He tried to calm his breathing and closed his eyes, going through some breathing exercises. Sure enough, he felt himself calm down enough to properly speak.

“…Why?” was what he whispered first. His eyes, reddened from tears, looked up slowly, meeting Akechi’s gaze.

“Why what? Try and wake you up?” Akechi looked at him oddly. “You were suffering, Aozora.”

“…Why didn’t you kill me then? You had a good opportunity.”

How ironic. Akechi internally laughed.

Hikaru let out a shaky breath, mouth stretching into a frown. He stared at Akechi, only averting his gaze after a few awkward moments. “…Sorry for disturbing you,” he muttered, barely audible.

Akechi stood still, unmoving. Hikaru laid back in bed, pulling the comforter over himself. Eventually, the detective went back downstairs, lying back on the couch.

Neither of them got sleep that night.

~~~

“Hey, Hikaru-” Ann immediately got on the defensive when they noticed the dishevelled teen, slumped over the dinner table. Across from him was Akechi, who was peacefully eating his breakfast: a nice set of scrambled eggs along with a cup of coffee.

“What the fuck?! Hikaru!” Akira yelled, pushing Ann out of the way. “What did you do, Akechi?!”

Akechi looked at him with a doubtful expression, taking a long, slow sip of coffee.

“Hikaru!” Akira recklessly shook the still unmoving teen. At that point, Hikaru let out a growl, raising his head with an annoyed expression and half-closed eyes. He waved his hands and summoned a knife, pointing at Akira.

“Who the fuck…?” Once he woke up enough to realize it was Akira, he threw the knife away, which dissolved before it hit the floor.

“Kira, love you, but don’t do that. Let me die in peace.”

Hikaru slammed his head against the table and reassumed his position that they came into the room with. Akechi, witnessing everything that just happened, decided to ignore whatever that was, taking in a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

“…Well, when you’re awake enough, you can join us in the living room?” Makoto suggested, earning a weird, muffled noise that confused all of them, Hikaru himself included. Taking it as approval, Makoto moved over to the living room and sat on the couch, the Thieves following her example.

“Should probably go take care of your guests,” Akechi said, earning another weird groan. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me. I’m hijacking your computer.”

The detective grabbed his cup, got up, and went upstairs, leaving Hikaru to eventually crawl out of the kitchen when he finally felt awake enough. With still half-lidded eyes and messy bed hair, he sat in Akira’s lap, who pulled him in close with a hug and covered him with Akechi’s blanket. Hikaru let out a sleepy groan, leaning closer to Akira and closing his eyes fully.

“Aww, that’s just precious…” Ann whispered, eyes shining with excitement from beside the two. She slowly reached a hand out to poke Hikaru on the cheek, but Akira interjected, smacking her hand away with a glare. The blonde girl gave her leader a playful grin, sticking her tongue out.

Makoto looked at them fondly but shook her head after a moment. “…Back to business, Futaba, is the calling card ready?”

“Yep! Just need the call.” Futaba gave a mock salute.

“We still have a few days before the deadline, no?” Yusuke asked, checking the date on his phone. “The election is on the 20th, while it is still only the 7th.”

“That’s why I had us do Mementos runs, just to make sure we get as far as we can and clean up any requests. I’m planning to do a run again after we beat Shido, because I’m almost positive that another part of Mementos will open up again.” Akira leaned back on the sofa, cuddling with the curled-up teen in his lap.

Peeking out of Akira’s bag, Morgana voiced his agreement. “Agreed. We’re quite close to depths of Mementos, if my senses are right. I expect something will open up when we destroy Shido’s Palace, maybe even allow us to go all the way in.”

“Then when should we send the calling card?” Haru asked. “I would need to know in advance to make sure my schedule is clear.”

“I’m thinking around the 14th? Does that sound good to everyone?” Everyone nodded. Akira turned to the half-asleep ball of blanket in his lap. “And you?”

“…Mmph,” Hikaru moaned, rolling around on Akira’s lap. Akira snorted, patting Hikaru’s head that peeked out of the blanket burrito.

“Gonna take that as a yes, then.” Hikaru made no noise of disagreements, so Akira took it as confirmation.

“…As long as you don’t get me to wake up at ass o’clock…” Hikaru whispered softly against Akira’s stomach, voice groggy from being half-awake.

“It’s almost ten.”

Hikaru didn’t respond, earning an endearing smile and eye roll from his lover.

“Aside from that, I think we’re good for now?” Makoto asked, looking back at Akira to check if she missed anything.

“Hey, since we have like a week left, you all wanna do something before then? Like a group activity?” Ryuji suggested with a grin. “We haven’t done anything with all of us in a while, probably since the beach.”

“Oh?” Yusuke’s mouth quirked up into a smile. “That does sound lovely. What do you suggest?”

“I don’t know, so close to our deadline?” Makoto said, unsure.

“Oh, loosen up! It’ll be fine, right?” Ryuji looked to Akira, who shrugged.

“Not opposed. What do you have in mind, though?”

“How about something like a day in Inokashira or something? Kinda like the beach, but the park since it’s almost winter, and I ain’t dumb enough to go to the beach in the winter.”

Haru hummed. “That does sound nice. It would be a nice change of pace compared to how rushed we have been in the past few days!” she said with a smile.

“That sounds wonderful. I shall bring a canvas with me, and perhaps I shall paint the natural beauty of Inokashira. It would be a magnificent piece.” Yusuke nodded to himself, already picturing it in his head.

“…I suppose we could take a break. But what about…?” Makoto looked to the stairs.

“…’s fine,” Hikaru murmured. “Trust him.”

“You sure?” Akira asked again, and Hikaru gave a barely perceptible nod.

“I guess we can just leave him?” Futaba said, sounding more like a question than a statement.

“So if there’s no complaints, we can meet at Inokashira on Sunday, if that’s fine?” No one objected, so it passed.

“That all?” Hikaru asked, and Akira nodded. Hikaru hummed. “Take me upstairs and drop me in bed.”

“Sure thing, princess.”

Pulling the blanket off of him, Akira princess carried Hikaru upstairs, gaining a happy giggle from the heir. Heading upstairs, he saw the weirdest scene in a while. Well, relatively weirdest.

Akechi was playing Minecraft on the computer at Hikaru’s desk, not even noticing him as he entered. That, or he chose to ignore it. Akira plopped Hikaru down on the bed, the teen naturally rolling up and sliding into the comforter. Akira was then somewhat dragged in, forcing him to cuddle with his boyfriend in the bed. Not that he was complaining, of course.

They fell asleep like that, holding each other under a comfortable blanket, with the soft background noise of chatting and keyboard clacking.

~~~

Hikaru began to stir, eyes blinking open. Just a quick glance outside showed that the sun was high in the sky. There still were muffled whispers from downstairs, meaning that there were still people there. How many, he would have to check. The clacking sound of the keyboard also meant that Akechi was still on the computer, doing god knows what. Hikaru didn’t really care. He could always check browser history, anyway.

A soft breath against his hair caught his attention.

In front of him, Akira was curled up, glasses off, eyes closed. His hands were braced by his chest, gently holding onto Hikaru’s. Their legs were tangled together in a mess of limbs.

Hikaru smiled to himself, leaning further into Akira. The scent of coffee beans immediately entered his nostrils, making him sigh in relief. It was a scent that suited Akira, since Hikaru always associated him with Leblanc and the fresh smell of brewed coffee.

His stomach rumbling snapped him out of his thoughts. Hikaru, not wanting to disturb Akira’s sleep, slowly removed his mess of limbs from Akira’s and got up. Akira made a grumbling noise, making Hikaru freeze, and rolled over to the other side, falling back to sleep.

Hikaru let out a sigh of relief, sitting up on the bed. He slid off, and with a stretch, made his way downstairs. On the couch was Morgana, who was sitting with Haru, Ryuji, and Yusuke.

“Where’s everyone else?” Hikaru asked, running a hand through his messy hair, a lot more awake than before.

“Oh, Hikaru, you’re awake!” Haru chirped. “I hope you don’t mind that we made ourselves at home here.”

“Everyone else was busy, so they had to leave first,” Yusuke answered, watching the TV. It was talking more about the upcoming elections and Shido’s almost guaranteed victory coming. The artist’s face twisted in disdain as he grabbed the remote and continued surfing.

“…What time is it, actually?” Hikaru moaned, eyes half-open.

“About 12:30. We’re wondering if we could go for lunch, actually. The three of us have nothin’ to do, so…” Ryuji trailed off, shrugging.

Hikaru hummed. “Sure. Gimme like five minutes to shower, though. Akira’s still asleep, so you guys can decide what to do with him.”

“Okay! We can also try to find out what’s nearby that’s good.”

Hikaru went to take a shower, glancing over Akechi’s screen as he got a set of clothes. Wait, was he buying games online?

“If you’re buying something, can you buy me a platformer or something? I need something to do,” Hikaru said, Akechi responding with a nod.

“Ori and the Will of the Wisps good enough?”

“Oh, yeah, I loved Blind Forest.”

Hikaru grabbed his wallet on the desk, handed Akechi his credit card, and went to the bathroom. He trusted that Akechi wasn’t going to steal all his money. Well, even if he did, he had five more cards, so really, not that much of a concern.

He came out feeling a lot more awake and definitely more refreshed. Akira still was soundly asleep, snoring gently into the soft pillows. He stopped beside Akira with a smile, a hand unconsciously rubbing through the asleep teen’s fluffy black locks.

“So, what’s the plan?” Hikaru asked once he went downstairs.

“We decided that it would probably be better for us to wake Akira. Not to be rude, but we can’t help but suspect…” Yusuke didn’t need to finish that sentence.

Hikaru shrugged. “Understandable. Now comes the fun part. Who’s waking him up?”

Haru giggled, a hand covering her mouth. “Oh, we just thought you would do it. It would only be right, wouldn’t it?”

“You’re the only one who he wouldn’t fight, yeah?” Ryuji said with a cheeky grin.

Hikaru huffed. “Should’ve seen this coming. Give me a moment.”

He went back upstairs and flopped onto Akira. The teen groaned, a hand coming up to try and shove Hikaru off. The heir resisted with a grin, rolling over onto Akira’s chest. “Wake up, loser. We’re going for lunch.”

“…Mmph,” Akira moaned, pushing harder.

“Are you coming or not?” Hikaru asked.

“Lemme die.”

“Sure, but do you want a meal or not? If you’re lazy to go, you can just order something, but I think everyone else wants to head out for lunch.” Akira groaned, rolling over, sliding Hikaru onto his back.

“…Gimme a few minutes to function.”

“We’ll wait downstairs, okay?”

~~~

Akira suppressed another yawn, leaning his head over onto Hikaru’s shoulder. The heir didn’t respond, flipping through the menu to see what he wanted to eat.

Ryuji watched with a barely hidden grimace. “Get a room.”

“You asked for this,” Hikaru retorted without looking up, flipping a page. “Ooh, the burger sounds good.”

“Hikaru, order for me. Get me something nice,” Akira whispered, voice still unstable.

“I’m getting you the cheapest and most disgusting thing I can find on the menu.”

Akira hummed.

“Is everyone ready?” Haru asked, calling the waiter over after everyone nodded.

Haru had ordered a nice steak, Ryuji a beef bowl, and Yusuke a simple salad. Hikaru raised an eyebrow at that. The waiter, after writing down their orders, turned to Hikaru. “And you, sir?”

Hikaru hummed, a plan forming in his head. “Can I get the cheeseburger with fries, and what’s the most expensive thing you have on this menu?”

The waiter gave him a service smile. “That would be the full three-course meal, with an appetizer, main, and dessert. Would you like to order that?”

“Yeah, get me that. Thanks.”

The waiter nodded, smiling. “Wonderful. We will be back with your appetizer in a moment.”

Once the waiter left, Akira leaned closer to Hikaru with a silly grin on his face. “Aww, I didn’t know you loved me that much!”

“Who said anything about that being for you?”

Ryuji snorted at the look on Akira’s face.

Hikaru pulled out his phone, hiding the smirk on his face. “That was for Yusuke. You get the salad.”

“Oh, surely you must be kidding. I couldn’t possibly eat all of that. I would think Akira is more suited for your target of kindness.”

“Yusuke, if you’re not eating it, I’m canceling the order.”

“…Well, it would be rude for me to not accept such an offer.”

Akira pouted, turning his head to look at Hikaru. “You’re actually kidding, right?”

“Partially. You both can share. I feel bad seeing Yusuke eat just a salad for lunch while everyone eats a full meal.”

Akira hummed. “I’m okay with that. Yusuke, you’re way too skinny for someone your size. We’re going to feed you until you look healthy, okay?”

Yusuke crossed his arms, a tiny smile on his face. “I would say it sounds lovely. Thank you for your kindness once again, Hikaru.”

“No problem. You all put up with a lot of my shit, so it’s only fair I do something to reimburse you all.”

Ryuji and Yusuke gave him confused looks. “What do you mean? If anything, it’s us who should be thanking you. You have saved us plenty of times, we should be the ones in your debt.”

“That’s true, but…” Hikaru trailed off, sensing an annoyed look from Haru.

Haru sighed. “Not this again…”

Akira turned his gaze to the heiress. “Haru?”

“Hikaru here seems convinced that he doesn’t deserve our kindness,” Haru said, narrowing her eyes. “I have no idea what could have possibly planted that idea in his head,” she said with a sharp glance at Akira, sarcasm in her tone.

Akira flinched, lifting his head from Hikaru’s shoulder. He looked down, regret on his expression.

“Haru.” The girl met Hikaru’s sharp gaze. Hikaru had a frown on his face. “Stop it.”

“No, especially if it means you’re hurting. You are one of the closest people in my life, the savior of my father. I’m not standing down on this.” Haru’s eyebrows furrowed, her hands tightly clutching the glass in front of her.

“Uhh…” Ryuji looked at Yusuke, panicked, and then back between the heir and the heiress. Akira looked away, face twisting with regret.

“Haru.” Hikaru’s tone turned sour.

“Hikaru,” she replied, tone equally nasty.

“…I’ll be back in a moment.” Akira excused himself, heading towards the washroom.

Once Akira left, Hikaru’s glare turned deadly. His irises shined a sharp gold, his mouth twisting into a scowl. It sent shivers up the spines of Ryuji and Yusuke, but Haru didn’t falter. Whether it was foolishness or stubbornness, who could tell.

“Haru. Your last chance.”

Haru said nothing, silently considering Hikaru’s warning.

“I would like to think we’re friends, Haru. But you’re getting closer to that line of things you should never mention to certain people.” The light in Hikaru’s eyes sparked dangerously, crackling as the heir’s eyes narrowed.

“…I suppose I have been a bit rude.” Haru accepted her defeat gracefully with a nod. “My apologies.”

The glow in Hikaru’s eyes died down, but his scowl was still present. “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” He got up and head towards the washroom.

Ryuji and Yusuke watched the whole exchange silently, both not daring enough to try and interject in such a conversation. The tension was palpable.

Haru was the one who broke it with a sigh and a shake of her head.

“Uhh…Haru?” Ryuji spoke up. The girl looked up with a tilt of her head and a pleasant smile that sent shivers down the blond’s spine.

“What was that?”

Her smile widened, and Ryuji felt cold sweat gather in his palms.

“Oh, nothing for you to worry about. Just some business between us two.”

~~~

Hikaru paused outside the bathroom, his hearing picking up the sniffling coming from inside. He entered the unlocked room, locking the door behind him once he was inside.

“…Akira?”

“…Leave me alone, Hikaru.” Akira’s voice cracked. He was faced the other way, his hands doing nothing to block the sobs from his throat. “I’m a terrible person.”

Hikaru said nothing.

“I made you feel this way for so long, and it’s all my fault. We never properly talked about what happened, did we? We only kind of brushed over it after the interrogation.”

“Then let’s do it. Right now.” Hikaru leaned against the door, crossing his arms. He was tired of this, the whole air of awkwardness between them. Even if they had decided to move past it, the event still left its traces whenever they spoke. Hikaru sometimes couldn’t meet Akira’s eyes, Akira always cut himself off at the weirdest times, they both avoided talking about anything to do with that event at all. Sure, they addressed it, but barely.

It could only go on for so long.

Akira wiped off his tears, turning around to face Hikaru. His red eyes were determined. “Alright.”

“I’ll start,” Hikaru said, standing up straight. “What you said to me that day hurt a lot more than you think.”

Akira flinched, but Hikaru continued, eyes not leaving Akira. “If I said I was fully over it, I would be lying. I still occasionally get nightmares about what happened, as well as what happened in Shido’s Palace. In full honesty, the words you said that day hurt more than what Akechi ever did to me.”

“I-” Akira spoke up, guilt all over his face, but Hikaru raised his hand to stop him.

“But that doesn’t mean anything right now. Through it all, I still love you. And I am not without fault in all of this. I kept secrets, I was doing things behind your back, I’m just as much to blame as you are. What you said that day was hurtful, but the truth that I needed to hear. I can’t keep going on like this just hoping that you’ll happily accept everything I say.”

Akira stayed silent as Hikaru spoke. He only let out a sigh when the other was done.

“…Then let me say what I experienced that day.”

Hikaru gestured him to go on.

“It was the first time I had talked to you, my boyfriend, after almost a whole month. I felt so many things, but what stood out the most at that time was just anger. Thinking back, I have no idea why I was that mad and said the things that I had said. It was wrong of me; I will admit that. I’m sorry.”

Hikaru’s expression tightened. For some reason, Yaldabaoth wasn’t acting as much as he did compared to before, like how he did when they came back from Hawaii. Was that something to do with the Velvet attendants, or was it an internal problem? He’ll have to ask that later.

“So, when you came in and just went to business, without addressing me or anyone at all, I just snapped. I said some things that I regretted heavily, and I just used your insecurities against you. I felt awful, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I fucked up, and it’s just selfish for me to try and ask you to be mine again.”

Hikaru leaned back on the door, his fingers drumming against it.

“Then listen to me. Apologize by being with me and tolerating just a bit more. Is that fine? It’s okay if it isn’t. I just don’t want anything like this happening again,” he said.

“…We can figure out all of this later, alright? Shido’s deadline is coming up, we should get that sorted out first.”

Hikaru pursed his lips. “Alright.”

“We should get back to everyone.” Hikaru nodded, unlocking the door and stepping out. He held the door open for Akira, who tried to wipe off the rest of his tears. Before they went back, however, Hikaru slipped a kiss on Akira’s cheek, making him smile.

“Don’t hate Haru for this.”

“I don’t, I’m scared you will.” Hikaru didn’t say anything else.

~~~

The rest of the lunch went over with an awkward air. Hikaru remained civil, but everyone could tell he wasn’t exactly happy at all. Haru seemed to ignore what was happening totally, chatting to Ryuji and Yusuke as if nothing was wrong. The two teens looked at each other, both of them not sure what to do about the awkward tension.

They parted with a wave and a tight smile on Ryuji’s end.

Hikaru walked back to the hotel lost in his thoughts. He felt conflicted, really.

It wasn’t as if he wanted to hate Haru, heavens no. That girl has kept him sane in formal events plenty of times. He owes her as much as she did him. What was weighing on his mind was what she did about Akira. He was by no means emotional, well, at least that was how he saw himself. That saying, he could understand Haru’s resentment. But knowing what he did about Yaldabaoth and Akira, he can’t blame the other either. So whose fault was this?

Well, the simple answer would be both of them, but he was the one in the middle of it, so he deserved some blame as well.

The bustling of the city took his mind away, letting him wander idly. He hummed, deciding to go around for a walk. He needed some silence, anyway.

He walked without a purpose, letting his legs take him wherever they wanted. He just made sure to keep an idea of where he went, so that he could make it back without an issue.

A stranger bumped into him, knocking Hikaru out of his thoughts. “Oh, sorry,” the apology came out naturally.

The stranger, a man with a hat and mask covering most of his features, said nothing. Instead, he flipped a coin over to Hikaru, who caught it, startled. “What-” he was about to protest.

He then met the eyes of the man. A very familiar pair of yellow eyes that held a certain air of exhaustion, with a pinch of resigned acceptance. The man nodded and left without another word.

Hikaru looked down in his palm, seeing the coin that Theodore had thrown towards him. It was a familiar one, the one Margaret had handed to him in the limousine. However, on the back was no longer a skull, but the crest of the Velvet Room. The heir hummed, flipping it and catching it as he walked.

However, he noticed that whenever he flipped the coin, it would land on the side with the star, almost never on the Velvet Room symbol. Hikaru made a curious noise, and flipped it again, this time watching it carefully.

It landed on the side with the symbol, and the world melted away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Ori series of platformers are amazing, period. Pretty art, god-tier music, and a kind-of-emotional plotline. Highly recommended.


	44. Picnic Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short break before we go into Shido's bossfight.

Hikaru felt the familiar feeling of being pulled through the Metaverse, arriving at a familiar door. He opened it confidently, seeing the three attendants spread across the room. Margaret was reading a book, leaning on the empty desk. Elizabeth was sat on the sofa, a cup of tea on the table. And finally, Theodore was there, sitting beside Elizabeth with a stressed look on his face.

With a flash of blue flames, Apollo appeared beside him, not on his chariot. The flash of flames also caught the attention of the three attendants.

“Well, that was sooner than we expected,” Margaret said, closing her book and standing up straight.

 _“A pleasure to see you once again, attendant.”_ Apollo bowed, Margaret performing a curtsy as a response.

“It is entirely my pleasure, Archetype,” Margaret replied with a smile. She turned to Hikaru and curtsied once more. “And welcome back, Hikaru. We have been expecting you.”

“I handed you the coin not half an hour ago, and you have already used it to access the Velvet Room. An incredible feat, really.” Theodore stood up, a grin on his face. “Please, sit. We have much to discuss.”

“It has been a while, no? We want to hear what you have to say about everything. We have been keeping track of your actions on and off, and we must say, you certainly have had an adventure, no?” Elizabeth added.

“Was I not supposed to come here?” Hikaru asked, freezing for a moment.

“Oh, no, on the contrary. The sooner you came here, the better it would be for us. As Theodore said, there is much for us to go through,” Margaret replied.

Theodore gestured to the empty couch, which Hikaru sat on. Apollo sat next to him, like before, while the three attendants took their place across from him.

“Now, let us get straight to business. First, we would like to know about your experiences. It has been two, close to three months since we last established contact, no? We know that you must have been through hardships, as Margaret has informed us.”

Hikaru hesitantly nodded, preparing to recount his story. It took a while, but he went through it.

Once Hikaru had finished, the three attendants had neutral expressions on their faces. Not a single one of them betrayed any emotion.

Hikaru allowed the awkward silence to wash over them, leaning back and taking a sip of the tea Theodore had provided. He was much more of a coffee person, but he was willing to try.

“I see,” Margaret was the first to break the silence. “So, he has become desperate. That works in our favor, no?”

“Not quite, in my opinion. He has seemingly gone silent for the past month or so, which I find weird. Almost like he’s planning something.” Hikaru crossed his arms.

“That is a possibility that we cannot ignore, indeed.” Elizabeth hummed in thought. “Well, regardless, we do have to inform you of our plan, which is confirmed.”

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And what will I be doing?”

“We are sure that the core of Yaldabaoth, the Holy Grail, can be found in the depths of the public distortion, Mementos. There could be nowhere else. It fits with Yaldabaoth’s wish to control all of humanity, to be in the middle of everything.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

Elizabeth hid a smile. “We once again would have to ask for your help in destroying the Holy Grail. In fact, I believe that you have an ally in your party that would like to do the same, no?”

“Morgana?”

“How is he? It has been a while since I last encountered the hope of humanity. If all else fails, you can rely on Morgana to guide you. He is aware of his duty to our Master.”

Hikaru nodded. “Then we enter the depths of Mementos and destroy the Holy Grail?”

“That would be ideal, but I imagine Yaldabaoth wouldn’t let you destroy his core so easily. There must be more to it, I’m certain,” Theodore muttered, stroking his chin with a pensive expression. He turned to Hikaru. “Regardless, we plan to regain control of the Velvet Room at least, so that we can guide the Trickster properly in defeating the false god.”

“However, I don’t believe this is of high priority yet, but you can begin seeing the traces of his influence on the public,” Theodore added on.

“How so?” Hikaru asked.

“Your country is in the midst of a political election, yes? Haven’t you noticed the laid-back attitude of the masses? How they simply wish for someone to lead them, rather than make small changes in their lives themselves? How they wish for someone to solve all their issues?” Theodore hinted. “All this shows the influence of Yaldabaoth, who is the God of Control. This is well within his realm, to manipulate the will of the masses to suit his needs.”

 _“We would need the help of the Trickster in expelling the false god from the Velvet Room, no?”_ Apollo chimed in.

“Indeed. However, we need to remember that Lavenza is there, even if she has been split. The two halves will eventually realize that the master they serve is not their true master, and we will need the Trickster to get them to realize that. Once that is done, Lavenza will be able to do the rest. We, on the other hand, need to work on freeing our Master.”

“Won’t this Lavenza be too weak? Yaldabaoth was strong enough to take over the room itself, so why can’t he easily get rid of her?” Hikaru asked after a sip of tea.

Elizabeth shook her head. “We attendants draw power from the unique Velvet Rooms of the previous clients we have served. Lavenza, who has been assigned to work directly with the Trickster, can easily expel the false god on her own once she has regained her true form.”

“Cool,” Hikaru muttered. “So, once again, where do I come in?”

Margaret was the one to answer. “Your role would be to facilitate, and if necessary, assist Lavenza in driving Yaldabaoth out. We can send you towards the room that the Trickster is in when the time comes. With Apollo by your side, we believe that you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”

“Sounds alright to me,” Hikaru said to himself. He looked at Apollo, who nodded back.

“Alright, sounds like a plan.”

~~~

A nice sunny day, an empty park. Hikaru sighed in content, laying down on the mat that they had laid out a few minutes ago. He closed his eyes, letting the gentle warmth spread across his skin, a contrast to the frigid air of a winter day.

Akira and Futaba had wanted to go ride on the paddle boat, Yusuke was setting up a canvas, Makoto and Haru went to a nearby store to get some food and drinks in addition to the ones they have brought, and Ann and Ryuji went on a jog. That left Hikaru with some alone time.

“Hey, Hikaru.”

Oh, he forgot about Morgana.

“Yeah?” Hikaru asked, not opening his eyes. He felt a small, warm weight jump onto his stomach. Morgana curled up, lying down on the heir’s body.

“A storm is brewing.”

Hikaru slowly opened his eyes, seeing a clear sky with no clouds as far as he can see. He closed them once again with a knowing smile on his face.

“Yeah. They’ll be needing our help soon. We’ll free the Trickster.”

Morgana grinned internally. “What do we do?”

“We need to go down into the depths of Mementos after we clear Shido’s Palace, once the effects of the God of Control’s manipulation is clear. There, we’ll need your help.”

Morgana let out a satisfied purr. “Oh, I’m so excited! I’m going home!”

“It’s not going to be as fun as you think it is, you know? Possibly life-threatening and everything?” Hikaru said with a smirk.

“A problem for the future me,” Morgana replied with a worry-free tone. He let out a soft mewl, enjoying the sunlight.

Loud footsteps caused Hikaru to peek with one eye. Ryuji and Ann had come back from their light jog, refreshed smiles on their faces. Hikaru reached a hand over to the cooler, flipping it open.

“Thanks, Hikaru,” Ryuji said, reaching in to grab a can of soda for both him and Ann. Handing it over to the girl, he cracked his open, drinking it in big gulps. The blond let out a refreshed sigh once he finished.

“How was it?”

“Fine, we didn’t go too fast. It was more of a walk than anything, really, considering what we do in the Metaverse,” Ann commented, taking a sip of the soda in her hands.

“What were you two talking about? Thought I heard you two mentioning something,” Ryuji asked, sitting down cross-legged beside Hikaru. Ann plopped down as well, finding an even spot to put her drink down.

“Nothing, really, just idle talk. How’s Yusuke doing?” Hikaru asked as a way to change the topic.

“Oh, he’s all set up. He said that it’ll probably take him a while, and to get him only for lunch and nothing else. Doesn’t want to interrupt the inspiration or something like that,” Ann replied offhandedly.

“Everyone else?”

“Akira and Futaba’re still paddling around the lake, but they’re probably going to be back soon. Futaba’s stamina’s still pretty bad,” Ryuji replied. Hikaru shrugged, stroking Morgana on the head. The cat first yowled in protest, but slowly relented.

“Hey, Hikaru? Can I ask you something?” Ann asked, gaining the two males’ gazes.

“What’s up?”

“What…exactly happened between you and Akira? I don’t think any of us actually got a proper explanation as to what happened, just that he suddenly blew up and you suffered because of it. Was that really all?”

Hikaru's mouth tightened into a frown. “…There’s more, but I don’t think I told anyone about it. Not that I don’t trust you all,” he quickly reassured them.

“It’s just…complicated. It almost feels like the world itself is doing everything it can to stop this relationship from becoming a thing,” Hikaru said, looking up to the blue sky. “But I think we can do it. We just need to get through this rough patch together.”

“Yeah, you guys are like, couple goals,” Ann commented, making Hikaru and Ryuji snort. “Seriously! I wish someone looked at me the same way that Akira looked at you.”

“Yeah, keep wishing,” Ryuji muttered, gaining an elbow in the ribs from the girl. Ryuji let out a yelp, glaring at Ann. “Only proving my point, Ann!”

“Oh, shut up!”

The three of them burst into laughter, attracting the attention of the few people around.

“What’s so funny?”

They turned to see Akira and Futaba sauntering towards them. Ryuji shifted over, letting them join the circle they had formed.

“Nothing, just us saying stupid shit. How was the paddle boat?” Ryuji said, changing the topic.

“Kinda disappointing,” Futaba said with a scoff. “Plus, I’m tired from paddling.”

She reached into the basket and pulled out an egg sandwich that Haru had prepared, munching into it unceremoniously. Immediately after she swallowed down the sandwich, she lied down on Hikaru’s lap, gaining a soft sound of protest from the heir.

“I’m taking a nap,” she announced.

“Uhh…” Akira was about to say something, but Morgana leaped off Hikaru’s stomach, crawling over to Futaba’s side. A content smile grew onto his face.

“Cuddle pile!” Ann cheered with a grin. She dragged Ryuji and Akira down with her, pushing the basket slightly to the side. The two boys landed with an ‘oof’, Akira’s glasses getting squished against the soft earth and his face.

Akira looked up, seeing Hikaru’s fond grin right in front of him.

“Well, hi there,” Akira said dumbly, gaining a soft laugh from Hikaru. It was music to Akira’s ears, to hear a genuine laugh from Hikaru. How long has it actually been?

“Now what do we do?” Ryuji asked.

“…” Ann and Futaba had already dozed off, tired from the exercise that they had done. Ann’s arms were wrapped around Ryuji and Akira, thus leaving them no choice.

“Well, this kind of thing isn’t too bad once in a while…” Ryuji muttered to himself.

~~~

Haru and Makoto arrived at such a scene a few minutes later, their hands filled with bags of snacks and light food they could find in the nearest convenience store.

“Well,” Makoto started with a smile, her voice at whisper level. “I suppose we were in a hurry for nothing.”

Haru placed her bags down at the edge of the mat, a hand coming to hide her giggle. She matched her volume to Makoto’s. “I suppose so, Mako-chan!”

“I can get the things out, can you go get Yusuke? I’m sure he’s still painting.”

Haru nodded, walking over to where the artist was painting. Meanwhile, Makoto reached into the bags and grabbed everything out, leaving the plastic by the side to serve as a trash bag. They had bought some bentos and some snacks, as well as rice balls and sandwiches in addition to what they had brought.

_“Do my eyes see a katsu curry?”_

Makoto turned over to Hikaru, seeing the heir peek at her with one eye, the other closed.

“Perhaps,” she whispered to herself, fully knowing Hikaru could hear her. “I can grab a spare blanket so that you don’t disturb Futaba.”

_“That would be appreciated, my leg’s going numb.”_

Makoto reached into the basket, pulling out the extra blanket and folding it into a makeshift pillow. Slowly, Hikaru inched his legs from under Futaba while Makoto slid in the blanket. They managed to do it without a stir from the hacker at all.

Hikaru stood up on shaky legs and stretched, letting out a silent yawn as he did so.

“Perhaps we should eat where Yusuke is? I don’t want to disturb them. We can come back to the rest later.”

Hikaru shrugged. He grabbed a few meals while leaving some behind, in the off chance that one of the others woke up while they were eating. Makoto grabbed some utensils and the basket, slipping some rice balls in.

They went over to where Yusuke had set up his easel, next to a wide park bench. Haru was already seated there, silently watching Yusuke work with a tranquil expression, a thermos of coffee in her hands.

“Yusuke, we brought you food, since you probably will take forever to take a break,” Hikaru commented, handing the distracted artist a bento. Yusuke hummed in response, taking a look at his work again and nodding contently.

“Alright, I can spare some time to eat. I should hurry, however. Inspiration is fleeting.” Without another word, he grabbed the bento from Hikaru with a quick thanks and went ham on it. He basically swallowed the entire thing without chewing at all. Hikaru watched with wordless amazement as Yusuke handed him the empty bento box.

“…Okay. Have fun?”

Yusuke nodded, picking up his brush again and going back to painting, already tuning the heir out.

“That’s just how he survives, I guess,” Makoto remarked. “Probably not the healthiest way to live, but he’s making it work. Now, shall we eat as well? I am quite hungry.”

Hikaru shrugged.

They sat down at the bench, opened their bentos, and began eating. Hikaru hummed. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t that good, but he expected that. It was convenience store food. He wasn’t that picky, so he ate without a complaint.

“So, how has everything been, Hikaru? I feel like we hadn’t had the opportunity to properly talk in ages.”

The heir shrugged. “It’s been fine. You two have been hitting it off quite well, haven’t you?”

“Oh, I think it’s just partly due to our age,” Haru commented, “but Mako-chan’s been really helpful when I do my gardening. Unlike someone…” she side-eyed Hikaru, raising her eyebrows slightly.

“I can’t even go to school, Haru.”

“Just saying…” she replied with a cheeky smile, giggling when Hikaru sighed loudly.

“Well, we formed some sort of bond just due to circumstances. Haru is pleasant company, a nice calm compared to the usual…chaos that is the Phantom Thieves.” Makoto said with a grin.

“You say that, but you enjoy our company regardless, don’t you?”

Makoto rolled her eyes, a fond smile on her face. “I suppose I do.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet, Mako-chan,” Hikaru teased, gaining an elbow from the president.

The rest of their conversation carried on calmly, a nice break from the chaotic conversations that they would’ve had with everyone. The three of them were probably the most mature out of the Thieves, so it felt nice to eat together and talk about anything, really.

“Wouldn’t it be fun, though, if you had the chance to see a ghost?” The topic somehow landed on ghosts, which gave Hikaru a laugh, seeing as ghosts were his topic when he had nothing else to talk about.

“…I would pass on that,” Makoto said, face paling slightly. “I…don’t do well with horror.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot you get scared easily. And really easily at that.” Hikaru snickered.

“Really? You seem like the type to be not scared of anything,” Haru mused. “I suppose everyone has their weaknesses.”

“I think it’s just more of a childhood fear. I once watched a horror movie when I was young, and it’s just stuck with me ever since,” Makoto replied.

“But anyway, I would love to meet a ghost. See if they’re actually as scary as movies and games make them out to be. Maybe they’re harmless, and just want some way to move on,” Hikaru said.

“Well, when you put it that way, I suppose they are pitiful,” Makoto responded, “not that that will make it any easier for me.”

Yusuke hummed from beside them. “I personally do not believe in ghosts at all, but I can see why many do. It is an intriguing topic to wonder about. What happens after we die?” He stared back at his painting, glancing back at the scenery in front of him.

“That differs from culture to culture, no? But it is interesting, to see how so many people have such different views on what happens after.” Makoto brought a hand up to her chin.

“Personally, I want to believe ghosts exist, but there’s really no actual evidence to it. There’s only stories, no actual scientific evidence. And I’d like to believe I’m a scientific guy, so…” Hikaru shrugged. “Doesn’t stop me from dreaming, though.”

“I think that’s fine. Scientific facts come from theories, which comes from ideas, which are, in essence, just thoughts. So, all of it is connected in a way.” Haru said, taking a sip from her thermos of coffee.

“That’s true. Also, how did we start talking about school and end up talking about scientific theory?” Hikaru asked, causing the two girls to giggle.

“That’s the beauty of conversation, isn’t it? We can just talk about anything, and it’ll be fine!” Haru gave him a wide smile.

“We should head back to the others. They might be confused as to where we are. We’ve been here for about an hour now, talking about random topics, and they should be up soon. Well, if they want to eat lunch, that is. It’s almost two.”

“Yeah. Yusuke, are you almost done?”

The artist nodded. “Just a few finishing touches and this should be satisfactory. I shall head over in a moment after tidying up, you may head back first.”

“Cool.” Hikaru picked up the empty bento boxes and went back to their basket, Makoto and Haru right behind them.

Ryuji was awake and on his phone, while everyone seemed to be still asleep. He looked up when he noticed the others come back. “Hey. Where did you three go?” he asked softly.

“We went to eat where Yusuke was painting. We didn’t want to disturb you all, since you were all asleep. Hikaru was awake, so he came along,” Makoto replied, as soft as the blond. “Did you already eat?”

Ryuji motioned to the empty bento set, along with some onigiri wrappers. “Yeah. The onigiri were really good, Haru.”

“Thank you! I’ve been trying new recipes, and that one seemed to gain the most popularity among my staff.”

“We should wake everyone up, or it’ll be hard to eat dinner later,” Makoto remarked. “So, who wants the honors?”

“I can handle Akira, everyone else I’ll leave it to you,” Hikaru whispered with a smile.

“Of course,” Ryuji remarked with an eye roll. Hikaru gave him a playful glare, and turned to his sleeping boyfriend. Hikaru laid down next to him, gently tapping his nose.

“Hey, loser.”

Akira roused from his sleep, slowly opening his eyes.

“…’m hngry,” Akira slurred, making Hikaru grin internally.

“Then get up and eat. It’s ten to two. Your food’s cold.”

Akira grumbled more, reaching out to pull Hikaru into his embrace. “…’s cold. Want coffee. And ‘Karu.”

“That’s great, love you too, but you actually need to eat food.”

“God, this is disgusting,” Ryuji said, but the smile on his face said otherwise.

“Alright, enough grossing Ryuji out. Get up.” Hikaru sat up and pulled away from Akira’s embrace, the other moaning at the loss of his boyfriend in his arms. The heir sighed, grabbing Akira’s arm and hoisting him up.

“Here you go, if you’re awake enough to eat.” Makoto handed Akira a bento, which he slowly took and opened up.

“Ann-chan, it’s time to get up,” Haru whispered, gently shaking the blonde girl awake. The girl woke up quite easily, slowly stretching and yawning.

“What time is it?”

“Almost two, so you should eat before you miss a meal. Here!”

Ann took the meal with one hand, the other reaching into the cooler for a can of soda. She cracked it open and took a sip, letting out a loud sigh of content. “Okay, I’m awake now.”

“And then this one…” Hikaru turned his eyes to the sleeping Futaba.

“…Maybe she’ll wake up to the smell of instant yakisoba,” Ryuji joked.

Hikaru didn’t take it as a joke. “Honestly, probably. Let’s try.”

Five minutes later, the heir came back from the convenience store with two bowls of instant yakisoba. He opened the lid, letting the aroma waft around them. He then dug in. He slurped loudly, watching Futaba closely. The redhead’s nose twitched at the scent, and her eyelid began fluttering open. She stirred, narrowed eyes looking around until she spotted the extra bowl of noodles. “…Gimme.”

Hikaru passed it over, and Futaba began eating without another word.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Ryuji commented.

“Don’t doubt the power of instant noodles on shut-ins.”

~~~

The sun was beginning to set, so the Thieves decided to begin cleaning and packing everything up. Hikaru hummed, watching the sun set across the horizon, causing the lake to appear a golden shade. Strangely, there was no one around, making the experience even more magical.

“Wow, it’s really pretty today,” Ann commented from beside the heir.

Hikaru hummed, hands slipping into his hoodie’s front pocket. “Something you don’t see every day.”

Everyone paused, sitting down on the soft grass.

“We’ll send the calling card tomorrow. We’ll then have to work immediately, since no doubt Shido will do something to try and stop us. Any problems?” Akira asked, looking over to everyone. They all shook their heads. The Thieves had made sure to clear their schedules as they got closer to the deadline since the nerves were more than high. It was a high-stakes target. Everything was riding on this.

“We’ll be able to do it, right?” Ann asked.

“We have to. For Akira, Akechi, Futaba, Haru, and for everyone Shido has ever hurt.” Hikaru clenched his fists in his pocket. “We need to stop him.”

“Yeah. That’s why the Thieves were made in the first place, yeah? To stop people like him?” Ryuji said with a grin.

“Indeed. We’ve done plenty already, and the world has felt our impact. What better target for an artistic finish?” Yusuke remarked, hiding a satisfied smirk. “How romantic.”

“Once we take down Shido, we’ll have to talk about how we feel about continuing. I would personally wish for us to go on, but there are many things to think about, moving forward.” Makoto tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“It certainly is a turning point for us, isn’t it? The one responsible for all our suffering, all this while, and the one who first accused our leader. Certainly dramatic, isn’t it?” Haru added with a smile.

“Feels like a final boss to me. Definitely one for the record. Almost feels like we’re tying up loose ends before we go on,” Futaba said to herself, causing Akira next to her to snort.

“Then we’re set! We’ll send the calling card tomorrow, and take Shido out with a bang!” Morgana cheered.

~~~

Hikaru flipped the coin in his pocket and watched as a velvet door materialized in front of him. Looking back and to his sides to make sure no one was watching him, he entered, pulling him into the Velvet Room.

“Oh, so soon?” Elizabeth asked once he entered. It seems she was the only one present that evening. “I’m afraid Theo and Margaret have been off doing tasks to prepare for our operation, so I am the only one here. How may I help you?”

“I forgot to ask this last time, but I wanted to know. What happened to me when Margaret found me in the Sea of Souls? My memory’s been quite fuzzy when I try to recall.” Apollo joined his master, sitting down on his usual couch.

_“Similarly, I remember a searing pain, but not the details. All I know was that what happened was extremely painful.”_

“Hmm…” Elizabeth hummed, eyeing Hikaru. She then smiled. “I believe there’s someone else you could ask, that would give you a better answer, no?”

“…Yeah, I guess. But I wanted to know what happened to bring me into the Sea of Souls, because last I remember, I was in the Metaverse, in a Palace.”

Elizabeth hummed again.

“Do you remember what I said to you the last time we talked privately?”

_“I can sense the seeds of doubt in you, Hikaru. That won’t do, at all. Doubt could lead to distortion, you know?”_

The words echoed in his mind again. How could he forget?

“Yeah.”

“The distortion in your heart, however small it may be at the moment, was amplified greatly by Loki’s power. He spotted a weakness and exploited it. That led to the process to develop a Palace. Such a Palace would be a contradiction, however, to your state as a Persona user, due to your freedom of mind.”

“That led to the pain that Apollo felt. Because you were forming a Palace, Apollo was suppressed. That is why we had to interject immediately once we noticed. Fortunately for us, Margaret was nearby. She quickly interrupted the process, bringing you into the Velvet Room to assist you in calming your heart and restoring your ability as a Persona user.”

Hikaru listened quietly, hands on his lap.

“…Then that final choice?”

“That was a reflection of your inner self. What Margaret said was true. One path would have led to the development of your Palace, another your freedom. It was with Apollo’s assistance that you made the right one.”

Hikaru looked at his Persona, who looked back with a smile. “Well, I like him, and I’m hoping he likes me, so I would like to think we’re a good team.”

“ _Likewise.”_

“There you go.”

“I apologize if I am being rude, but is that all?” Elizabeth asked.

Hikaru nodded with a shy grin, scratching the back of his neck. “Yeah, really. Just something that I was wondering to myself. Thank you, Elizabeth. We’ll be heading off now.”

“Then allow me to see you off.” The attendant stood up, walking them to the door.

~~~

Hikaru arrived back at the hotel just in time for dinner. Akechi was lounging on the couch, idly surfing through channels to find something entertaining to watch. The heir entered with an unreadable expression.

“Hey, how was it?” Akechi asked, eyes not leaving the TV screen.

“Akechi, can I ask you something?”

That caught the detective’s attention. “Sure?”

“Back on Shido’s Palace, what did you do to me?”

Akechi flinched internally when he met the heir’s eyes. Hikaru’s eyes were dark, slightly clouded. As if one wrong answer and his life was forfeit.

“…I made you psychotic. Loki said that if I made you psychotic, you would be under my control and that we can use you to kill everyone else.” Akechi looked away from Hikaru’s face.

“…Psychotic, huh…” Hikaru turned silent, walking past Akechi. “If you want to order something, go ahead. Just get me the same thing.” He went upstairs without another word, leaving Akechi, scared and hidden in his blanket.

The heir silently prepared a bath, watching as the water filled the tub. It was a large tub, a lot larger than what one person would use, but he wasn’t complaining. He stripped off his clothes and got in once it was ready, grabbing a bottle of soap and dumping all of it in.

Hikaru sighed, slowly dipping his body into the warm bathwater. He stared at the extravagant lights on the ceiling, mind wandering off.

Loki was the god of mischief, known for manipulating others just for his own gain. Therefore, mind control and manipulation would be par for the course. But Elizabeth mentioned that Loki exploited the weakness in his heart, and basically accelerated the formation of a Palace in his heart. Is that something a Persona can do?

The more he thought about it, the more questions he had.

Could Personas create Palaces in humans? Wasn’t that counterproductive, though? Palaces restricted the formation of a Palace, and Palaces cannot form within a Persona user. That was the rule.

Hikaru closed his eyes, slipping his entire body into the tub. Light blue fire burst from the heir, ran along the surface of the water, and Apollo shimmered in front of him.

 _“Stop wondering about meaningless things,”_ the Persona’s voice echoed in his mind. Hikaru silently smiled.

_“I wouldn’t say meaningless, by far.”_

_“I certainly would. It’s the past. Any doubt in your heart has been shed off. Now, we face forward.”_

Hikaru slowly surfaced, pushing his wet hair out of his face. He grinned to himself.

“…Maybe.”

Apollo’s laugh was melodic. Hikaru waved his hand to summon a knife made of light and spun it between his fingers. After a moment, he threw it at the marble wall, causing the knife to dissipate into small glitters. He sighed and waved his hand again.

_“Just because you wave your hands doesn’t mean I disappear.”_

Hikaru glared playfully at his Persona. “I’m taking a bath, Apollo. Shoo.”

Apollo rolled his blue eyes with a playful grin and dissipated.

Hikaru hummed, sinking back into the water, keeping just his face above the water. He sang softly, eyes slipping closed. As he let his voice take his mind off of his thoughts, time sped by. He finally got out after he wasn’t sure how long, wiping himself dry with a towel, leaving the piece of cloth around his neck.

Hikaru slipped on some pyjamas and laid down on his bed. The doorbell rang, but Hikaru remained still. Akechi opened the door, and the heir heard shuffling and muffled voices.

“Hikaru! Dinner’s here!”

The heir made a loud noise, slowly getting up. He sat up and stared at the glass wall for a moment. His mouth tightened, his eyes closing for a moment. He took a deep breath through his nose and stood up.

“Coming!”

~~~

“Can we talk, Haru?”

The heiress turned over and gestured to an empty chair by her plants. “How can I help you, Akira?”

The nervous leader of the Phantom Thieves scratched the back of his neck, slowly sitting down, facing the heiress.

“…I wanted to apologize.”

Haru stopped her motions, wiping off some dirt on her hands on her PE uniform. She stood properly from her squatting position and faced Akira.

“Okay.”

There was a moment of silence before Akira broke it with an awkward cough.

“I don’t want things to be tense between us, Haru, and I know I have done plenty of things to upset you. So first, I apologize.” Akira stood up and bowed deeply. Haru remained silent.

“Some of the things I have said were hurtful, and I know I can’t pretend that I never did. I said some awful things. So I can only hope that this is apology enough and that you can see that I am sincere.”

Haru sighed, placing a hand on Akira’s shoulder.

“Akira, do you know why I was so upset at what you have done?”

Akira slowly nodded. “…Because I said some insensitive things about the people closest to you.”

“Yes, but there is another reason.”

That confused the leader slightly. Haru, seeing the confused expression on Akira, decided to answer her own question.

“You were dating Hikaru, Akira. Understandably, I didn’t and still don’t know the details of your relationship, but I know enough about relationships that you are meant to trust each other. I got mad because whenever Hikaru talked about you, he talked like you were his world. When I was in my darkest time, he brought me out of it. He truly was my savior.”

Haru then lowered her hand, letting it rest by her side.

“But when I first met you, you seemed hesitant to even trust Hikaru. I know now that it was due to his unannounced absence, but at the time, I didn’t know better. The rooftop event occurred, and I once again saw the difference in the both of you.”

Akira flinched, averting his eyes.

“You can see where I’m going with this. After the whole incident regarding Hikaru’s kidnapping and the attempt on my father’s life, I will not lie, I was very emotional and fragile. When Hikaru gathered all of us and you did what amounted to verbal abuse, that was the breaking point. Seeing that, and the broken expression on Hikaru’s face, reminded me too much of the relationship I had just escaped.”

As Haru continued, Akira nodded. He knew what he did wrong.

“He was the person who saved both me and my father’s lives, literally. It is understandable why I would feel angry, no?”

“…Yeah. I’m sorry. I don’t know what else I can say.”

“Hikaru is kind, overly so. He wishes only the best for everyone around him, and I hate seeing such kindness be exploited. That is why I became a Phantom Thief, after all. That is why I will say I still do not trust you. But I am willing to change, Akira, and I know that you are too.”

Haru reached a hand out for a handshake.

“How about this? Let us restart, putting everything behind us.” She smiled. “Nice to meet you. My name is Haru Okumura, heiress to Okumura Foods, and you?”

Akira chuckled to himself. He shook Haru’s hand. “Akira Kurusu, the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Nice to meet you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On other news, thanks to everyone who's been leaving support! Whether that's kudos, comments, or just reading the story, it's nice to see that people enjoy the work you've done. So, once again, thank you!


	45. Destroying the Cruiser

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shido bossfight.

_“On tonight’s news-”_

The news announcements on the screens in Shibuya cut mid-sentence and flashed to white, gaining confused whispers from the crowd of people. Within all of them, however, a hooded figure looked towards a screen with a smile. A distorted, but female voice took over.

_“Alright, yeah, we get it. News are important, but so is this!”_

A bouncing black icon appeared on the screen, jumping and spinning until it reached the center. It then opened up, and contents spilled forth.

_“The Phantom Thieves made it big!”_

The logo of the Phantom Thieves appeared front and center, gaining shocked gasps and some cheers.

_“Alright, listen up, people of Japan! Here’s a truth bomb for you! The society we live in is corrupt!”_

Giggling erupted from the speaker audio. A cute voice interjected.

_“Well, I think we all know that. But, we’re here to tell you some corrupt people. Especially this one!”_

An image of Shido appeared, with crude drawings all over it. A squiggly moustache, triangle goatee, devil horns, the whole thing. The hooded figure repressed a laugh. A more serious female voice took over the mic.

_“Masayoshi Shido, scum of the earth. Many of you don’t know this, but he’s the one who’s behind the mental shutdown cases. He had framed us, and we’re here to reveal the truth.”_

Next was a rough male voice.

_“Yeah, what a rotten bastard! He’s probably watching, so I’ll say it now! Yo, Shido, you’re an asshole!”_

A girly teenage voice came in after that.

_“Yeah, screw you! We’re coming for you, you rotten politician!”_

A sigh in the background as the icon swallowed the image of Shido. Right as that happened, the screen went black, gaining slightly panicked and confused mutters from the crowd. It wasn’t even a whole minute before the screen came back on. A cool male voice entered.

_“Masayoshi Shido, consider this your calling card. We’re coming after you, and you can guarantee that we will take your heart.”_

The image switched, turning into a dark alley. Along the alley, there were eight silhouettes. One was of a lanky male, leaning against a wall. Two girls, one with puffy hair and the other with short, straight hair, were by the other wall. Another figure was crouched on the ground beside the girls, idly drawing on the ground. A girl and a boy looked to be talking to each other beside the lanky male, the boy slightly slouched and the girl relaxed. A cat’s silhouette walked over to the crouched girl, sitting in front of her.

Right in the middle were two figures, leaning against each other, looking upwards. A masculine voice with a relaxed tone could be heard as the right boy’s lips moved accordingly.

_“We’ll take your heart, Shido. Right, leader?”_

The male on the left laughed.

_“Definitely. Phantom Thieves, time to move!”_

With a wave of his hand, the Thieves vanished, as if they were never there, leaving the empty alleyway. The video cut out as the hooded individual left the crowd, a grin on his face. Muttering and gossip erupted from the crowd gathered in Shibuya as he left, a hand resting on one ear of the headset he was wearing.

_“Give it a few minutes, and we’re heading in. I’ll be there in a few.”_

_“Understood, Sky.”_

_~~~_

“That was amazing!” Ryuji said excitedly, pumping his fist.

Hikaru rolled his eyes while Futaba gave him a proud smirk. “Who do you think you’re talking to? Of course it’s top quality!”

“Alright, enough of this, let’s head in,” Makoto said with a fond smile, pulling out her phone. “We’ll be limited on time, so we need to do this quick. Hikaru, you mentioned a two-hour time limit?”

The heir nodded, crossing his arms. “Yeah. Shido was the one who shut down Wakaba, because she was getting too close to discovering the Metaverse. He then used her research to form a drug to temporarily place someone under the effect of a mental shutdown, thus destroying his Palace.” Futaba’s face soured at the misuse of her mother’s research.

Hikaru continued, undeterred. “I expect him to see the broadcast message by now, and immediately get the drug. I don’t know how long it takes to take effect, as well as transportation, because it surely isn’t in the Diet building. Two hours is a very rough estimate, it might be a lot more earlier than that, but two hours at most. We go in, we clean up, we get out, no delay. Got it?”

“Then let’s go. No time to waste.”

They entered the Metaverse with determined expressions, and one goal in their mind.

~~~

The assembly hall was wide and empty, with a large stage in the shape of a daruma doll. The podium was empty, making the Thieves pause. They approached slowly, looking around for any sign of the Treasure. Joker paused, and once he noticed nothing, walked without fear.

“Shido!”

The politician walked in from the side of the stage, a smirk on his face. His eyes turned to the Thieves, and his smirk grew. “Oh, some vermin got into the hall.”

A blast of nuclear energy shot from Queen’s palm, aimed for Shido’s head.

The blast of nuclear energy was deflected, smacked away as if it was a fly. Shido laughed. “Look at that, they can’t even listen to me for a moment. What happened to society? Filled with impatient brats and mindless sheep.”

The Thieves stayed silent.

“What’s the rush?” Shido grinned, turning to the empty hall. “Perhaps I should make it a law that all before me can only leave when I say so.”

From behind them, faceless Shadows appeared, clapping at Shido’s words. The Thieves remained unaffected, keeping their gaze on Shido. The politician sighed dramatically and snapped his fingers. The Shadows in the room swirled, gathering into a ball of blackness.

“Let’s see your ability, Phantom Thieves. Will you have purpose?” Shido let out another chuckle, walking off the stage.

The ball of blackness morphed, turning into a golden lion, made of statues of human bodies crawling upwards. Shido approached it, his appearance changing with every step. When he stopped in front of it, he was no longer wearing a suit, but a captain’s uniform, with a steel helmet on. “Let’s see if you can face off against the masses!”

The golden lion roared as the hall opened up and pushed upwards, bringing them to the top deck of the ship.

“Phantom Thieves,” Joker yelled, the first words they have spoken upon meeting the politician, “Attribute Specialist!”

The lion charged straight for them, causing them to split. Oracle quickly entered Prometheus and hovered over all of them, while the main party split into two groups.

“Let’s go!” Joker yelled, Fox, Skull, and Noir behind him. They rushed in with strong Physical attacks, but the lion deflected them, even sending Noir’s bullets back towards her. They cursed, putting some distance between the lion.

“That’s a Physical attack repel!” Oracle called out. “Magical attacks are all good, though!”

“Fire!” Multiple blasts of magic shot from Sky, Mona, Queen, and Panther. The winds from Mona’s Garudyne stoked Panther’s flames, which surrounded Queen’s Freidyne. This was shot together with Sky’s Solar Flare, forming a beam of pure energy that blasted straight against the lion’s side, sending it skidding towards the edge of the platform. Shido, who was on the top of the lion, cursed.

“You useless rats!” A whip appeared in his hand, whipping against the lion’s back. It roared again, golden wings appearing from its side. It took off with a strong gust of wind, sending the nearby Physical attackers flying back. Mona leaped towards them, landing in the middle.

“Zorro, Mediarama!”

A blast of healing energy shot forth from Zorro’s rapier, surrounding the injured Thieves and curing their wounds. They then turned to the beast in the sky, regrouping with everyone else.

“Oracle!” Sky yelled, a hand coming to rest on the side of his goggles.

“Yeah, it switched resistances! No Physical resistances anymore, but magic’s a lot less effective!”

Sky turned to Joker, a hand in the air and a grin on his face. Joker smirked, raising his hand as well for a high five. When their palms came into contact, a surge of energy rushed through the leader of the Phantom Thieves, and he dashed forward with increased vigor. Noir, Fox, and Skull were close behind him, energized by the Baton Pass of their teammates.

“I got you!” Mona yelled, summoning Zorro. Winds surrounded Fox, Joker, and Skull while Noir ripped her mask off when they were right under the lion. They lifted the three melee attackers into the sky, propelling them straight towards the golden lion.

Shido scoffed. “You think I will sit here and let you attack me for free?! Think again!” he bellowed, whipping the lion again.

The lion roared, flames gathering in its jaw.

“Astarte, One-Shot Kill!” With a wave of the goddess’ hands, phantom bullets formed and shot straight at the lion from above.

“Seiten Taisei, Megaton Raid!” The Persona rushed from Skull’s mask, pole enlarged and swinging straight for the lion.

“Vorpal Blade, Kamu Susano-o!” Fox commanded, his mask melting into his Persona’s blade.

“Bishamonten, Deadly Fury!” The god swung its polearm, enraged and empowered by the effects of the Baton Pass, making its attack that more deadly.

The lion’s jaw opened, blasting flames without a direction in mind. It swung its head wildly, deterring Fox’s attack. Joker and Skull, however, proceeded without caution, slamming their attacks against the lion, sending it flying off to the side. Shido cursed, whipping his lion again. “Incompetent masses!”

Skull panted heavily, some parts of his skin severely charred by the fire attack. Joker, however, was unbothered, not a single burn on his features.

A beam of light shot up, blasting a hole through the deformed gold. The lion roared in agony. Shido looked down and narrowed his eyes at the blast of light from Sky. The navigator was on the ground, a yellow light by his feet.

“I’m buffing you four up, continue the assault!” Oracle yelled, increasing the strength of the four melee attackers. A gentle golden light bathed Skull, and his wounds disappeared without a trace. He gave a thumbs up at Sky, and rushed in, Joker and Fox behind him.

“Queen, defense!” Joker yelled. Half a moment later, a purple light surrounded them, buffing their defenses. “Long-range support!”

“Got it!” The remaining Thieves on the ground drew their guns, pointing them towards the flying lion.

“Fire once they’re clear!” Sky called, crouching and adjusting his aim.

The three Thieves in the Sky went in for a second assault, while the lion tried to block the attack with an ice attack. Fortunately, Fox, who couldn’t approach the lion the previous attack, easily repelled the attack, allowing the other two to get clean hits in.

Joker attempted to try and hit Shido off, but the captain easily deflected his attack and retaliated with a lash of his whip. It hit Joker with enough force to send him barreling down, where Queen dashed to catch him.

Skull slammed his pipe against the lion’s side, causing it to roar in agony. It thrashed wildly, wings beating heavily. Its wings gathered winds around it and released a strong gale, launching Skull away.

The blond electric user landed heavily on the marble platform, the floor cracking at the impact. Panther and Mona were immediately by his side, moving in to patch him up as best as they could.

Fox was the last one, swinging his blade in a deadly arc across the beast’s face. The lion growled and attempted to strike back with a Ziodyne, but the artist was faster, maneuvering his way around the attack. Kamu Susano-o stabbed deep into the golden body with his spectral blade, while Fox made his way down gracefully.

“Bufudyne!”

Ice grew from the stab wound created by Fox’s Persona, immobilizing the golden lion.

“Fire at will!” came the order from Sky. With the beast frozen in the sky, it was easy for all of them to aim and hit it.

The lion roared in pain, trying to shake the frost on its wings off so that it could blow the bullets away, but it was too weak to do so. It fell to the ground, lifeless. Shido, however, didn’t seem that bothered at all. He just looked annoyed, as if it was a mild inconvenience.

“Serve your captain!” Shido’s voice boomed across the empty sky, shaking the Thieves where they stood.

The golden bodies that made up the lion began to crawl, forming a pyramid with their bodies. The Thieves watched with disgust as the human pyramid was made before their eyes.

“…Take it down,” Oracle’s voice was just above a mutter. The imagery was disturbing, especially considering her own Palace.

“Understood. Mona, Queen, Noir, with me!” The three Thieves rallied behind their leader, while everyone else took the chance to recover their injuries.

Sky approached Skull, tapping his shoulder. “You good?”

The blond gave him a shaky smile. “Yeah, just aching now. Mona and Panther patched me up quite well.”

“I’ll do any touch-ups.” A golden ray of light bathed Ryuji with a strum of Apollo’s lyre, and any pain that Skull felt immediately left his body. “Not that I don’t trust Panther and Mona to patch you up, but we need you front and center.”

Skull snickered to himself. “Sure, tell yourself that.”

Sky rolled his eyes, handing him a bottle of soda. “Recover your stamina while we keep the thing occupied.”

The navigator turned back to the battle, eyes immediately analyzing the situation. He narrowed his eyes. “Actually, chug that. Noir’s looking hurt, we’re going to need you to sub in soon.”

“Gotcha.”

Sky left Skull and approached the main party from the back. He ripped his mask off, summoning the god of the sun beside him.

“Solar Flare!”

A blast of light blew a whole chunk of the pyramid off, staggering it. The temporary opening allowed Queen and Joker to get in chain blasts of magic, which, while weren’t as powerful as Sky’s magic, were enough to get it to pause its attack.

“Fire!” Shido commanded.

Light gathered at the top of the pyramid, shooting a dangerous beam towards the four Thieves. Oracle’s interference, however, was perfectly timed, as she reprogrammed the beam to do nothing more than tickle. She giggled to herself in her Persona.

“Thanks for the assist, Oracle!” Mona leaped forth and swung wildly with his scimitar, leaving deep gashes in the pyramid that bled black ichor.

“Astarte, Psiodyne!” The world around them distorted as a psychic blast was aimed at the pyramid, intended to cleanly tear it apart. It didn’t manage to do it, but it widened the wounds all over the pyramid, and sure enough, it can’t recover.

The pyramid fell apart by Shido’s feet, the captain looking disappointed more than anything. “I suppose that is my fault, for simply trusting the masses. Clearly, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself.”

He turned to the Thieves, speaking in a condescending tone. “I suppose I have been underestimating you all.”

“You seem to like to do that with people,” Joker remarked. “That was what you did with me, after all.”

Shido’s eyebrow raised. Joker pulled off his mask, revealing his face. The leader grinned. “Remember me?”

The politician’s eyes narrowed. “You’re that brat a few months ago.”

“You remember? What a surprise,” Sky mocked, crossing his arms. “You actually know the people you’re destroying. I thought you would’ve forgotten about them, just like everyone else you've hurt.”

Shido barked with laughter. “Hah! Of course you foolish people would think like that! I know how to keep tabs on my enemies! But enough talk, it’s time for me to be serious.”

The ship captain grabbed his outfit and tore his shirt off, revealing bulging muscles restrained by a harness. The Shadow’s eyes gleamed a golden yellow, a smirk growing on his face. “I’ll destroy you intruders on my ship!”

“Wait, watch out-!” Before Oracle could warn them, Shido dashed with an insane speed, a fist aimed straight for Joker. Sky moved faster, however, summoning Apollo to absorb the attack. Shido’s fist slammed the barrier with an amazing force, cracking the ground and sending a burst of air around them.

“Panther!”

Flames erupted from under Shido, the man barely jumping out of the way of the attack. He breathed and rushed in again, this time aiming for Queen, who was the closest.

“Seiten Taisei!” The Persona intercepted the attack, shoving Queen out of the way and blocking the strong blow with its pole. Skull shoved Shido back and retaliated with a blast of electricity, which did nothing more than annoy the Palace ruler.

“You little…!” He punched Skull with all his might, sending the teen flying off to the side. Panther rushed to his side, while Sky gritted his teeth. Shido was too fast, and they needed to change that.

“Immobilize him!”

Joker and Fox prepared ice spells, but Shido was faster. He easily dodged the blasts of ice, approaching Noir next.

“Astarte!”

The Persona attempted to shove Shido back with psychic force, which worked to an extent. Shido was pushed back a short distance, but he wasn’t hurt in the slightest. He braced against the impact, resisting the psychic energy pushing him further back.

“Bufudyne!”

Ice shot at Shido’s legs in an attempt to keep him frozen to the ground. However, Shido wasn’t going to stand there and just take it. He leaped off the ground with tremendous force, breaking the existing crystals of ice on his legs.

“Solar Flare!”

Beams of light shot from Apollo’s bow, refracting and scattering as they approached Shido. It was impossible for the man to dodge everything, leaving clean holes of charred flesh in his left arm and right hand. Shido made some distance between them, eyes narrowed dangerously at Sky, who didn’t flinch. Shido took a deep breath and moved.

The politician rushed forward, but instead of going for one of them, slammed his fist against the floor, blowing the ones closest to him, being Sky, Joker, and Queen, back. The impact left a huge crack on the floor, while the three knocked over had small wounds just from the force of his punch.

He then performed a rush of attacks while the three strongest Thieves were stunned. He first rushed to Noir and elbowed her on the back of her neck, knocking her out. Skull was next, a fist against his stomach causing him to crumple.

The fastest and nimblest Thieves, Fox and Mona, moved to react, but Shido moved faster. The two Thieves barely could react in time to deflect Shido’s heavy blows, and right as they were about to retaliate, he was gone. He moved on to Panther, knocking her out just as the leaders of the Thieves recovered.

“Holy crap!” Oracle cursed, watching Shido dash around and knock her teammates. “Sky, get everyone up!”

“If they’re going to get knocked out like that again, there’s no point,” the navigator responded, getting in a battle stance. A throwing knife formed in his hand, ready to be thrown at a moment’s notice. “Fox, Mona, how are you?”

“Still able to fight, Sky.”

“Then we’ll have to handle this. Joker’s not doing too well, and Queen’s not that well off either. Can we leave recovery to you two?”

“Got it.” Joker and Queen disengaged and focused on healing the rest, while Sky, Fox, and Mona walked in front of them.

_“Here’s the plan. Mona, try to surround him with winds. I’ll keep him occupied. Once we get him, Fox, you need to allow frost, snow, and ice in. We’re basically recreating a blizzard.”_

Slight nods from the two around him. Sky nodded and dashed into combat.

“I got you!” Oracle yelled. Green light surrounded Sky, speeding him up. Shido stood ready, a smirk on his face.

“You’re the ringleader, aren’t you? I’ll take you out first!” Sky dodged around Shido’s fist, throwing his knives at point-blank range. He didn’t see what damage they did, however, having no time to do so. He slid under the man’s wide stance, kicking against the floor to somersault over the stunned politician, throwing another set of knives as he did. Shido tried to grab at him, but Sky moved faster, kicking off of the man and throwing another set of knives in the sky.

“Sky!”

When Mona called his name, he leapt back and ripped his goggles off, firing blasts of light at the injured Palace ruler. Knives were deep in his chest and back, two in his shoulder, and on in his right arm. Apollo hit his target, two arrows shot straight where Shido’s heart would’ve been at. Winds had slowly been gathering around them, forming a wide area, slowly closing in as the battle had happened. That had slowly been closing until it was about a meter wide.

“Fox!” The artist blasted shards of ice into the cyclone, along with frost and snow, drastically reducing the temperature of the area. Once that was done, Sky did the finishing blow.

“Solar Flare!” A beam of light was shot in and reflected off of the ice shards within, creating what was essentially a death trap. “Keep going, Fox! The light will melt the ice, so keep going!”

The entire cyclone brightened as light was bounced back and forth the walls of wind, reflected by the minuscule chunks of ice present. Eventually, Sky told Fox and Mona to stop. “We don’t want to kill him,” he said.

The winds slowly died down, and there was a bright flash of light as the light trapped inside was freed. However, when they turned back, Shido was gone. Sky’s eyes widened. “Watch out-!”

“Too late.”

A clean hit on the Thief’s chest, with enough force to break the bones under Shido’s fist. Sky was sent flying, slamming against the far wall of the deck. The wall behind him cracked from the impact, the fissures dangerously close to splitting the entire wall. He sank down, unconscious.

Shido was there, the harness no longer restricting his motions. His muscles bulged, his skin turning a reddish tint as blood pumped through his veins.

“Sky!” Joker was the first to leave the rest who were starting to regain consciousness, quickly moving over to his lover’s side. Sky was heavily injured, with his chest cavity caved in and blood running all over. His temple had a huge gash that would normally cause immediate death, his breathing shallow. He was probably also heavily bleeding under the hoodie, but it was impossible to tell.

“Lakshmi, Diarahan!”

The Hindu goddess performed a dance, summoning azure light around the heavily injured navigator. Joker heard the telltale signs of bones snapping back together, but the blood lost was still an issue. He would have to wait for Sky to naturally recover from that since Sky was the only one who could replenish lost blood. The navigator’s life didn’t seem to be in any danger, since the wounds were patched up quickly and efficiently.

Apollo might have strong magical abilities, but it still was a fact that Sky’s defenses are one of the lowest, especially against Physical attacks. That made him a glass cannon: hard-hitting, but easily destroyed.

~~~

“Hecate, burn it all!”

Flames carelessly spewed from Hecate in an attempt to ward off Shido’s attack. Add on the crackling electricity field around them made it hard for the Shadow to actually come close. Shido was fast, sure, but he was also injured by Sky’s attacks. If he were to even step close, his speed, his greatest weapon, would be compromised.

But Shido smirked. Eventually, they will run out of stamina, and that’s his opportunity to strike.

“Astarte, One-Shot Kill!”

Phantom bullets shot straight for Shido from all angles, leaving a few wounds all over, but nothing to the level of what Sky caused. Shido seemed unbothered, but his slight panting proved otherwise. Shadow or not, no one can take that many hits and still remain unaffected.

“Anat, Freidyne!” He dodged the nuclear blast and slammed his fist against the ground.

Curse magic shot from the ground, engulfing all of the Thieves, weakening all of them. However, Mona immediately followed it up with a Mediarama, negating all damage done. Fox shot back with a Vorpal Blade, leaving a deep wound across Shido’s chest.

“How much longer?!” Skull asked, repeatedly casting a Ziodyne to charge the area with electricity. “I’m running out of magic!”

“Until we knock him out. You’ll have to hold it, Skull. We’re running out of magic recovery items too…” Queen responded, making a quick inventory check. She turned to everyone else. “Take him down as quickly as you can! Skull’s running low, and it’s been an hour already!”

“We’d like to, but he’s too fast, even with a Sukunda!” Panther yelled back. The blonde pulled out her tommy gun. “At this point, it’s just better to try everything and pray something hits!”

“Garudyne!” A blade of wind shot from Zorro’s rapier, keeping Shido a distance away. The politician cursed, lashing back with a blade of wind of his own. Mona was one of the best magic users in terms of control, however, easily countering the strong slashes of wind with his own.

“This isn’t looking good!” Oracle yelled, quickly attempting to recover the stamina of the party.

“Joker!” Queen called out. The leader, once he confirmed that Sky’s condition was stable, turned back to the party. His eyes held a flame of anger.

“Black Frost, Diamond Dust!”

Spikes of ice shot from Joker’s feet, rushing over to Shido at an insane velocity. Shido jumped out of the way, but the trail of ice followed him, tracking his movement as he dodged.

“Bufudyne!”

A shard of ice shot towards where he was about to run, stunning Shido and allowing the Diamond Dust to hit him. In a flash, he was impaled by spikes of ice.

“Belial, Agidyne!” Flames erupted from the demon’s trident, hitting Shido, since he was locked down.

Shido roared, a pulse of energy shattering the ice and extinguish the flames. He then grinned, eyes locking with Joker’s. “You’re finally serious.” Shido’s muscles bulged disgustingly as he flexed. Dark energy erupted from the politician without a warning, shooting straight for Joker.

“Dominion, Kougaon!” Bless energy repelled the Curse energy, neutralizing in the air into nothingness.

“Ba’al, Panta Rhei!” Blades of wind spun dangerously, aimed for Shido’s head. Joker immediately followed with a Eigaon, the blades of wind turning a dark crimson shade.

“Enough!” Pure energy exploded from Shido’s fist as he punched the air, dissolving the Panta Rhei without any effort. Shido dashed forward right as the attack dissipated.

“Freidyne!”

A nuclear shot from Anat kept Shido still. The politician narrowed his eyes at the Thieves, who had so far been stunned by the exchange of blows. Only by Queen’s interference did they manage to act.

“You annoying rats…” Shido’s scowl disappeared as he took another deep breath, calming himself.

“Here he comes!” Oracle warned.

Shido somehow moved even faster, considering the state he was in. The man was bleeding from multiple wounds, but it seemed that none of those did any effect on slowing him down. Skull couldn’t even charge up a Ziodyne in time to stun Shido, the politician already in front of him in the blink of an eye.

Shido went in with a flurry of punches and kicks, knocking out all six of the Thieves in a moment. Even Mona and Fox couldn’t dodge in time, getting knocked out in a few hits. Oracle cursed from inside Prometheus, hands flying over her keyboard. “What the fuck?! How the hell is he even faster?!”

Shido dashed towards Joker, but Oracle interfered, slamming her fist against the side of her Persona. “Final Guard!”

A green barrier blocked Shido’s assault, shoving him back. Joker cursed internally and rushed to attack, dagger drawn. Everyone else was out of commission, it was just him and Oracle.

“You think you can take me on when everyone else can’t?!” Shido’s grin turned twisted. He unleashed a wave of energy, sending Joker back.

“Joker!” Oracle called, frantic. Was this really it?

Joker wiped off a trail of blood that came from his mouth. “Not yet. We just need to stall.”

“We don’t have time!”

Shido laughed. “The great leader of the Phantom Thieves, all alone and scared. What a fitting ending, to die a dog’s death,” he mocked.

“You think we’re dying here?” Joker was bluffing, Oracle thought to herself. The leader had barely any magic left after repeatedly using fourth-tier magic spells back-to-back, as well as strong third-tier spells. The leader was running dry, and he can’t find an opportunity to use some recovery items with Shido constantly on the hunt.

“What can I do…?” she whispered to herself.

Shido dashed one last time, and Oracle closed her eyes. “Joker, no!”

Joker braced for the hit. He couldn’t dodge it. He was exhausted, a minute away from collapsing. The last thing he thought about was the familiar song he was hearing. It was the music accompanying the Velvet Room, a song he knew like the back of his hand.

~~~

Wait, what?

The attack landed, but not against Joker’s body. It was blocked once again by a very familiar Persona. A strum of a lyre, and Shido felt the attack reverberate in his bones.

The song got louder, and Joker could finally make out a voice past the buzzing in his ears. The voice was melodic, soft, gentle, healing. He felt all his exhaustion melt away as the singing continued.

In front of him, the Thieves roused from unconsciousness, hearing the same singing bring them back. Their wounds were gone, any exhaustion they felt evaporating into nothingness. As the singing got louder and louder, the Thieves could finally turn towards the source of the song.

Sky’s voice sent goosebumps across their skin as a field of light grew around him, slowly covering the entire top deck. As his pitch got higher, the field glowed a soft green, healing the entire party’s wounds. When he opened his eyes, they were not the blue they were familiar with, but a deep velvet with a small amount of gold in the middle. The tempo got faster, and the field of light glowed accordingly.

“Hell yeah!” Skull cheered, getting back up and flexing his shoulder. “Let’s beat the hell out of this bastard!” Sky smiled to himself as he continued singing.

“Go, go, go!” Oracle couldn’t keep the stupid smile off her face as she powered all of the Thieves.

“I took all of you down once, doesn’t mean I can’t do it again!” Shido bashed Queen away with enough force that she felt bones shattering. She landed to the side, but Sky kept singing, and the wounds disappeared, no trace of them at all.

Queen smirked. “That didn’t even hurt.”

“Phantom Thieves,” Joker commanded, “full power!”

With Sky’s healing and the constant attacks of the Thieves, adding on to the already injured Shido, it really wasn’t a surprise as to who would win. Before long, Shido fell over, body deflating and skin turning back to its normal white color.

Sky only stopped once Shido was down, the magic field around him slowly dying down.

Right as everything calmed down, the world began shaking.

“We’re getting out, now!” Sky snatched the glowing Treasure that had appeared and ran for it, the Thieves right behind him.

They sprinted past the cabins, where water was already trickling in. “Is this the drug’s effect?!” Makoto asked, pushing her mask up. No Shadows were left, the halls all empty.

“Probably! His entire Palace’s collapsing!” Hikaru replied, doing the same. The hallway in front of them crashed, water spilling and flooding their path. “Oracle, a path!”

“Take a left!” Akira ran in front of Hikaru, Futaba right behind him.

“Everything’s collapsing! We need to get out, quick!” Right as they saw the light of day, the path collapsed once again, trapping them inside.

“Out of the way!”

A blast of psychic energy shot the rubble out of the way, clearing the path. Yusuke immediately froze the water, keeping the path clear for the moment. The Thieves quickly ran past before the ice could crack under the strain.

“Where’s the exit?!” Ann asked, looking around wildly. They were on the front deck, but at the top of the building.

“There!” Morgana pointed to a small rift beside the cruiser, unreachable from where they were. They needed to get a boat to even get there.

“Over there, an emergency boat!” Haru exclaimed, pointing to the edge of the front deck, which was pointing upwards as the boat tilted. It wasn’t impossible to run up there, but at the rate the ship was capsizing, their chances were looking grip.

“I’ll go!” Ryuji bent down without another word and sprinted.

“Ryuji!” Ann screamed as the blond sprinted up the increasing incline, the explosions behind them getting closer. With a final leap, Ryuji jumped up towards the lever and grabbed it, releasing the boat. The Thieves cheered as Makoto and Yusuke reeled it in, helping everyone get aboard.

Hikaru’s eyes were still locked on Ryuji. “We’re coming over!”

The heir’s eyes widened as he heard a rumbling noise from the boat mechanism. Hikaru yanked his goggles off and hurled them with all his might. “Apollo, hurry!”

The goggles were engulfed with blue flames, morphing into the Persona who rushed towards Ryuji. The blond’s eyes widened as flames erupted from the mechanism, smoke covering their vision. Whether Apollo made it, they couldn’t see.

“Ryuji!” Ann cried, watching as the smoke settled. Tears gathered in her eyes as she anxiously awaited her friend’s fate.

Hikaru slumped onto the boat, letting out a loud sigh of relief.

The smoke cleared, revealing an unharmed Ryuji, waving at them, still hanging from the lever.

“Oh, thank god,” Haru sighed, sitting down on the boat.

Makoto drove the boat over to Ryuji. “Let go, we’ll catch you!” she yelled once the boat was in position.

The blond fell, and Morgana had a Garudyne prepared to catch his fall. Hikaru and Akira were there as well, letting Ryuji gently fall into their arms. Ryuji grinned. “Well, hi there.”

“You’re so lucky Apollo made it in time,” Hikaru said, blue flames running over his forehead, materializing into his goggles.

“Not gonna lie, I was.”

Hikaru huffed, pulling Ryuji up. “Glad to see you’re fine,” Hikaru said with relief and a quick hug. “Now, I think you have bigger problems.” He gestured to the angry blonde behind Ryuji and gave the other a pat on the shoulder.

The world around them shifted, bringing them back to their reality. The unstable boat underneath them vanished, turning into solid pavement.

“Ryuji, you…!” Ann sniffled, resting her hands on Ryuji’s shoulders. “…Just never do that again, okay?”

“Trust me, I don’t think I want to,” Ryuji replied sheepishly, resting a hand on Ann’s wrist. “Sorry about worrying all of you,” he said to everyone.

“I suppose it ended well, but imagine if it didn’t…” Makoto shook her head, clearing the thought. “I shouldn’t focus on that. We should be thanking you, Ryuji.”

“Yeah, you, like, just yeeted off!” Futaba excitedly exclaimed.

“Are you alright now, Lady Ann?” Morgana asked sheepishly, looking up at the girl from her shoes.

Ann wiped any remnants of her tears. “…Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thanks.”

“Alright, it’s late, we’re all exhausted, let’s go to sleep,” Akira said all in one breath. He leaned against Hikaru, who shoved him off.

“I still feel quite refreshed, though. Why is that?” Yusuke asked.

“That would be a consequence of me,” Hikaru raised his hand.

“Oh, yeah, what the heck was that shit in the Palace?” Futaba asked, awe in her eyes. “It was the most magical shit I’ve ever seen in a Palace!”

“Didn’t I do something like that when we were fighting Akechi?” Hikaru retorted, crossing his arms.

“I mean, yeah, I guess, but I was like half-conscious for that entire thing.”

Hikaru rolled his eyes with a fond smile on his face.

“That was one of Apollo’s strongest abilities, Hymn of Light. As long as I remain standing and have magic left, I can heal and restore limited amounts of magic to everyone around me. It’s really draining, though, and usually leaves me kind of tired. Add on to the multiple spells I cast in the entire battle and I’m honestly just about to pass out.”

Akira leaned on Hikaru again, almost causing the heir’s knees to buckle.

“Your singing was amazing, but what song was that? It felt so…mystical.” Hikaru bit his lip.

“The tune just came into my mind. As Apollo played the melody, I sang along. The notes flowed naturally.”

“Well, whatever it was, it was stunning! It sent chills down my spine!” Haru remarked.

Akira leaned in a bit closer, whispering directly into Hikaru’s ear.

“Will you sing for me, when I ask for it?”

Hikaru’s eyes slipped close, a smile crawling onto his face. He replied with the same volume. “I will only sing for you, my love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna say Apollo's around a 77 by this point. One or two more fillers and we're in the last arc.


	46. Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter before things get real.

Akira was nervous.

Not about the calling card, no. That was already done, and there was nothing else they could do about it. They would have to just hope that the change of heart went off before the drug took full effect.

No, Akira was nervous for a whole other reason.

Across from him, sitting at the counter of Leblanc, Ann rolled her eyes.

“You both have been dating for months now. I still can’t believe the fact that you two have never gone on a date before.”

“Well, a lot happened, Ann. That, and we’re Phantom Thieves. There’s not a lot of personal time between all of that.”

Ann hummed. “Fair point. But still, how the hell? Isn’t that one of the first things you’re supposed to do as a couple?”

“She’s right, you know,” Haru added, taking a sip of her coffee. “Even Sugimura, however nasty and sexist, took me out on a date first.”

“Please don’t compare me to your shitty excuse of an ex-fiancé.”

Haru giggled.

“What do you have planned?” Ann asked, resting her chin on a hand.

“Probably a meal and then I’ll let it go from there.”

“That’s it?”

Akira groaned. “He’s had everything, Ann! How the hell do I bring someone who’s had everything to somewhere nice?!”

Ann rolled her eyes. “Take it from me, Hikaru’s a lot simpler than you think. Just do something fun.”

The bell above the door of Leblanc rang, making Akira jump. His head snapped to the left, sighing heavily when it was only Ryuji. The blond eyed him with a funny grin. “Sorry to disappoint? Not Hikaru, only Ryuji.”

“Ryuji, come make fun of Akira with us.”

“I do that on the daily. If he can clown me, so can I.”

“Alright, don’t make me kick you two out.”

The three second-years burst into laughter, silencing the ring of the doorbell.

“What’s going on?”

Akira immediately froze, black eyes meeting Hikaru’s sky blue. The heir smiled, making Akira’s insides feel like mush. “Hey,” Akira said pathetically.

“Hey yourself. So, what’re we doing?” Hikaru responded, suppressing a laugh at seeing Akira so flustered. “We are heading out, yeah?”

“Yeah! Just gimme a moment.” Akira stumbled upstairs into the attic, leaving Hikaru with everyone.

“You look nice,” Ann muttered, eyeing Hikaru’s outfit. It was the same, but with an extra scarf and the Pokémon beanie that he grew to like. He wasn’t wearing the glasses but had the contacts on and pulled the scarf up to cover a part of his lower face.

“Ann, this is what I wear almost every day. The only thing that has changed is the scarf.”

“Leave her alone, she’s a romantic,” Haru commented. “Have fun! Use protection!”

Hikaru rolled his eyes. “It’s a date, Haru.”

“And many things can happen on a date, one of them being sex. You’re both legal in Japan.”

“You do know if we do, it’s going to be here, where we regularly meet up, yes? You sure you want us to?”

“Okay, that’s enough nasty shit,” Ryuji interrupted their conversation, drawing chuckles from the two. “I would like to imagine I’m not eating curry on some surface that my friends had sex on.”

Hikaru tilted his head innocently. “How do you know you haven’t?”

“Because Futaba won’t allow it.”

_“Damn right I won’t! What the fuck!”_

Hikaru clicked his tongue. “Tch.”

“Alright, I’m ready to go,” Akira announced as he came back down from the attic. “I’m trusting you all not to ruin the place. Sojiro’ll kill me.”

“We can babysit the place. Have fun on your date!” Ann replied, making Akira blush.

“Sure.” Hikaru seemed nonchalant and aloof about it, making Akira that much more nervous. Hikaru led them out and down the alleyways of Yongen-Jaya, towards the station.

~~~

“So, where’re we going?” Hikaru asked, turning around to meet Akira’s gaze.

“Well, have you had lunch already?” Akira asked.

“No. Still doesn’t answer where,” Hikaru said, looking at the map of the subway outside the station. “What’re you feeling?”

“How about some ramen from Ogikubo?”

“Sure.” They got on the train headed for Ogikubo.

Akira was dying inside. Hikaru seemed so relaxed, as if it was just a regular hangout between the two of them, back before they started dating. Granted, their new and complicated relationship really shouldn’t change anything, but that doesn’t stop butterflies from gathering in Akira’s stomach.

 _“Now arriving at Ogikubo,”_ the automated voice announced. The two of them got off, the couple now walking side-to-side.

“Hey, Hikaru?” Akira asked, trying to initiate conversation.

“Yeah?”

“What do you feel like doing after this?”

Hikaru thought to himself for a moment.

“No idea. Honestly, I don’t mind anything, even if it's just idly wandering around the city. As long as it’s with you, I don’t mind,” he replied with a smile.

Akira’s face flushed slightly, making Hikaru snicker into his scarf. “That was cheesy as all hell.”

“Learned it from you. You should be proud, Kira.”

They entered the ramen store, taking a seat at a table beside the main counter. A waitress arrived, a small notepad in her hands. “Welcome! Can I get your order?”

“A beef ramen for me, and…” Akira looked at Hikaru.

“I’ll have the miso ramen with chicken.”

“Alright.” The woman left with a bow, heading to the kitchen to deliver their orders. A calm air surrounded them as they stayed silent, listening to the background chatter of the people around them.

“So, you come here often?”

Hikaru snorted. “Is this really how we’re doing this?”

Akira wiggled his eyebrows, making Hikaru laugh.

“Well, I don’t know what else we can talk about.”

That was a lie. Akira had plenty to talk about, plenty of doubts, and plenty of regrets. But this was supposed to be a happy time with just the two of them, and he didn’t want to ruin the mood. And it seemed like Hikaru understood that, by the way he looked at Akira.

Silence overcame them once again as Hikaru’s mind wandered.

“Hey, Akira, I don’t think you ever told me what exactly happened in Sae’s Palace.”

Thankful for the subject change, Akira wracked his memory for the occurrences in Sae’s Palace.

~~~

“…Believe it or not, I’m pretty sure Akechi was trying to show off. No one bought it, though. It was hilarious, seeing him deflate after everyone ignored his efforts. And then after that…”

Hikaru listened quietly as Akira recounted the events of Sae’s Palace, taking bites of his ramen in between. Occasionally he asked questions, keeping the story engaging for both himself and Akira.

“…And that was about it, I think. You saw what happened after we sent the calling card, you were there.”

“Yeah. Sounds like one of the more interesting Palaces we infiltrated.”

“Oh, yeah. A welcome change after the exhausting bullshit that was Okumura’s Palace.”

Another awkward pause as Akira ate his noodles, Hikaru having long finished as he listened to Akira talk.

“…Hey, Akira?”

“Yeah?” The teen responded through a mouthful of noodles.

“Is it alright if I asked about your past?”

Akira thought for a moment before shrugging. “I’ve made peace with it, plus I’d like to think I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for what happened. In that line of thought, I suppose I should be thanking Shido. I wouldn’t have met any of our friends, especially you, if Shido had not sued me that day.”

“Then can I ask what happened after you were given an assault charge?”

Akira hummed. “I was ostracized. Everyone around me was suddenly terrified of being even near me. Even the teachers were wary, constantly giving me glances like I would kill them if they made me angry, when just the day before, I was treated just like any other student. The change in attitude was shocking, to say the least.”

“My parents thought it best for me to try and get a fresh start somewhere else, so they looked into schools that would accept me. The only one that accepted was Shujin, but we were more than happy. We had no relatives staying here, so Dad had to do some digging to try and find contacts that were willing to take me in, and one of his friends recommended Sojiro. So Dad called him, and made an agreement.”

Akira made eye contact with Hikaru. “How about you? Being an Aozora must be tough, isn’t it? How was Shujin?”

Hikaru thought for a moment before answering. “I told you the story of Naoki and what happened to me when I was a kid, yeah?” Akira nodded.

“I would like to say that I’m over it, but to be honest, I don’t think I ever will be. A small part of me will always wish that what happened was just a dream, that I’ll wake up and he would still be one of the closest friends I have. That I hadn’t ruined his entire life.” Hikaru took a sip of water before continuing.

“When I first entered Shujin, I would say it wasn’t pleasant at all. I tried to hide it, of course, but you really can’t do anything about it when you are the heir to the largest corporation in Japan. No amount of hiding can do anything. The first day I went, the paparazzi were there. Writers of tabloid articles, individual journalists, small-name papers hoping to make it in the public eye, all of them tried to report about the supposedly invisible Aozora heir. None of the big papers would write about it, of course, since they weren’t allowed to, being subsidiaries of our branch.”

“And so the rumors started. It wasn’t my first time dealing with them, of course, but after being home-schooled for a period of time, I suppose I let my guard down.” Here, Hikaru gave a sad chuckle. “Some people approached me and tried to leech off my fame and wealth, trying to be ‘friends’. I just ignored those people, leading to the rumors of me being some arrogant prick or something.”

“And then, believe it or not, I got a death threat.”

Akira almost spit out his noodles. “What the hell?”

“Yeah. Someone had cursed me to hell or something like that, writing it on my notebook when I went to the washroom. It was during lunch, so I had no idea who it was, so I left it. Nothing ever happened, so I should be thankful that was the case, really.”

“Did you ever figure out who did it?” Akira asked.

Hikaru shook his head. “I don’t care enough to. If they can’t do it, then it’s not important. Plus, I would like to think I can defend myself well now.”

Akira chuckled at that. “True. You’re stronger than all of us combined, probably.”

“I don’t know about that one, Akira. I don’t think I can stop all of you if you came at me at the same time.” Hikaru said, idly twirling a small lock of hair on his head.

“You probably could if you didn’t hold back. Do you remember what happened after you got possessed by Akechi?”

Hikaru tried to recall. “No, not really. I was out of it, for the most part, my mind was mostly blank. I remember some voice whispering into my mind, saying something about attacking, so I did just that. Thinking back now, that was probably Loki or something.”

“Yeah, you easily locked down almost half the team, no sweat. The only reason they weren’t wiped out entirely was because they managed to get through to a part of you.” Akira said, pushing his glasses up. “It was terrifying, seeing everyone take so much damage from your attacks.”

“But you weren’t fighting me, right?”

Akira shook his head. “Me and Makoto were holding Akechi back. I don’t think us joining would’ve made a large impact, anyways.”

“You’d be surprised. You held off Shido for a while on your own, didn’t you? Plus, you’re the only one in the party, excluding me, who has access to fourth-level spells. You hit just as hard and just as quick as I do. As a team, you work as a cohesive unit better, while if I’m alone, I’m outnumbered.”

“Yeah, but numbers didn’t stop you from clearing hordes of Shadows before.”

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, a challenging grin on his face. “That’s because they were overwhelmingly weak. Are you saying your team is as weak as a horde of low-leveled Shadows, leader?”

Akira didn’t falter. “No, I’m saying the power of your Persona is overwhelmingly strong. To the point where it would be nigh impossible for us to try and beat you, so we’re appreciative that you’re on our side.”

“Oh, how you compliment me.”

“You deserve only the best.”

They both ended up bursting into laughter.

~~~

“So, what’s next?” Hikaru asked, hands behind his backs he wandered out of the restaurant, spinning on the balls of his feet.

“You feeling a movie?”

Hikaru hummed, rocking back and forth. “Not really. Something else?”

“Uhh…” Akira thought for a moment. “We can go shopping for stuff? I need to get some stuff for people and do some maintenance on equipment. We’ll be all over Tokyo, so that'll probably be the whole day. I wanted to do that tomorrow, but…”

Hikaru smiled. “Yeah, that sounds way more interesting.”

They headed off to Shinjuku first, since it wasn’t that far, and on the way back to Shibuya.

“Oh, Akira-kun!”

They were strolling down the street towards a general goods store when someone called out to Akira. It was a blonde woman with a purple dress and headband. She was setting up a foldable table by an alleyway, along with two chairs.

“Chihaya-san. You seem to be early today,” Akira remarked with a nod.

The woman smiled. “Oh, I decided to get started early today. One of my regular clients asked if they could come in for a reading in a few minutes, and since I was free anyway, I said that it was fine.” She then turned her eyes to Hikaru. “And this is?”

“This is my boyfriend, Hikaru.”

Hikaru looked at Akira with a confused look. The taller gave a slight nod, so Hikaru reached a hand out. “Nice to meet you.”

“Oh!” The woman reached both hands out, shaking Hikaru’s. Her eyes sparkled with recognition. “So you’re the one! It’s nice to meet you, Akira has told me a lot about you. My name is Chihaya. I’m a fortune teller.”

“Chihaya’s fortunes are usually terrifyingly accurate. I usually come here quite often, both to get my fortunes read and to help out.”

Hikaru hummed. “That sounds really interesting. Do you mind if I have my fortune read?”

Chihaya giggled. “I wanted to ask just that! Please, have a seat, if you don’t mind.”

Hikaru sat down across from Chihaya, who shuffled a deck of cards expertly. She then placed the deck right in front of the two of them. “Would you like to shuffle it? I personally believe that a touch of the client’s hands will lead to better results.”

Hikaru looked pleased. He picked the deck up and shuffled it a few times before placing it back down.

“Now, I will perform a general reading. Is that fine?” Hikaru nodded.

Picking the deck up once again, she distributed seven cards on the table, in a hexagonal shape, the last card being in the middle. “We shall go in the order distributed, representing the cycle of your life.”

Flipping the first card, her expression soured. “Death.”

“Death can be symbolic of change and transformation, but many associate it with sadness and grief. It is not a card one would usually see in their earlier stages of life, if a major arcana at all. It is a card that I tell my clients to not fear. But, regardless, your life must have altered greatly in the past.”

Hikaru took a deep breath. Akira rested a hand on his shoulder, a concerned expression. The heir shook his head, however, giving a reassuring smile. “Continue, please.”

“The next two cards represent the adolescent stage.” She flipped them over at the same time. “Reversed Hanged Man, Reversed Hermit.” Her eyes turned soft, looking at the heir once again. “I’m so sorry.”

“The Reversed Hanged Man represents hesitation, indecision. As if you are at a crossroads. You are stuck in the past, unable to move on. Tied down by the death that weighed on your mind, you cannot progress forward.”

Looking over to the next card, Chihaya continued. “The Reversed Hermit represents isolation, withdrawal. You become disconnected from the world around you, hiding in your own world. Coupled with these cards, it shows grief, depression. You have been suffering.”

Akira’s grip tightened. Hikaru, however, rested a hand on his. “Keep going.”

“The next three cards show your current life.” Chihaya flipped them over and nodded, a smile slowly growing on her face. “The Tower, The Lovers, and Strength.”

“Your life has changed, totally transforming. You have grown stronger, more resilient, and yet, more compassionate. You are kind, one of the kindest people that I have seen. Whether that is from your own growth, or from the bonds around you,” she looked over to Akira, who blushed, “I wouldn’t know. Regardless, you have broken the chains that have tied you down to your past, and you grow wings of freedom. You are free.”

Hikaru smiled to himself.

“And this final card will show your future.” Chihaya rested her hand on the card, and with a deep breath, flipped it over. She gasped. “W-what?”

Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

“What is this card? It shouldn’t be in the deck! This is no card from the tarot!”

In front of them laid a card that was unlike every card so far. A drawing of blue flames surrounded a lone individual, who was bowing towards them.

“What’s that card?” Akira asked once Chihaya calmed down.

“I have no idea. I can’t even glimpse into his future. Your future seems to be locked, unable to be seen by the prying eyes of any seer. This card…” She picked up the card, staring at it curiously. “What could it mean?”

“How did it even get there?” Hikaru asked, but he knew. That card wasn’t symbolic at all, quite literal in fact. That image wasn’t exactly subtle.

“Well, that was strange, but regardless, thank you for the reading,” Hikaru said, standing up and reaching into his pocket. “How much is it?”

“Oh, on the house. This wasn’t a proper reading, anyway. I won’t have you pay for faulty readings.” Chihaya stood up as well, brushing off her dress. “But I should tell you. Whenever something like this happens, Akira-kun over here seems to always be the cause of it.”

Akira shrugged. “I actually have no idea about this one, though. It feels familiar, though, for some reason.”

Chihaya sighed. “So it seems. It was nice meeting you, Aozora-san. Perhaps you should keep this. It wouldn’t do for my deck to include strange cards.” She handed the card over to Hikaru.

“And you as well, Chihaya-san. Maybe in the future, we’ll see about another reading. A proper one.”

Chihaya laughed. “Of course. Anytime.”

The two teens walked off, leaving the stand.

“You sure it was fine for us to tell her who I am?” Hikaru asked.

“If she hasn’t told anyone that we’re Phantom Thieves, then she won’t tell anyone she saw you.”

“How many people know?” Akira thought for a moment.

“Uhh…Do you count Mishima and Sojiro?”

Hikaru sighed. “No.”

“And Sae?”

“Also a no.”

“About eight, then.”

Hikaru hummed. “That’s a lot less than I thought.”

“Hey, you thought I was going to spill to everyone I meet?” Akira protested. “I can hold secrets!”

“You literally told a fucking fortune teller.”

“She read my future!”

“Uh-huh, yeah.”

“Hey!”

~~~

They were wandering through Akihabara, with Akira trying to pick out goods for Futaba, when they were interrupted again.

“Kurusu!”

Mishima came running up, a stack of papers in his arms and a smile on his face. He then noticed Hikaru next to him. Shock overtook his features. “You’re-”

“Hi, I don’t think we’ve met.” Hikaru looked at Mishima with a dangerous smile and narrowed eyes. He reached a hand out.

“Uh…yeah. Nice to meet you.” Mishima reached out to shake his hand and whimpered when Hikaru gripped his hand tightly. He got the hint.

“What did you need, Mishima?” Akira asked, pulling Hikaru back. The heir let out a ‘hmph’.

“Oh, I just wanted to tell you that the storyboard is mostly done! I just need to go around and talk to affected people to see if they are willing to do an interview.” Hikaru raised an eyebrow at that.

“Interview?” he asked.

“Oh, I’m planning to make a documentary about the Phantom Thieves. It’s mostly really just a project for the future in my mind, but I work on it whenever I have spare time between admin roles and school.”

Hikaru made an impressed noise. “Sounds cool. Let me know if you need help with that, I can hook you up with some contacts.”

Mishima’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?!”

Hikaru made an affirmative noise. “All up to you. It’s your project, I’m not going to take control over it. Can’t convince people for you though, that one’s on you. Broadcasting and spreading, on the other hand, that I can do. Just let me know through him or something.” He nodded his head in Akira’s direction.

“Thanks so much!” Mishima couldn’t hide the excitement in his voice. The sway of the Aozora had enough power to make sure that this would be spread through the entire country, maybe even overseas. His work would be directly in the public’s view.

“Calm down there, you still have to do the entire thing first,” Akira said with a smile.

“Yeah, I’m going to start writing emails! See you two later, and thanks again!” Mishima rushed off, just as suddenly as he came.

“…He’s like a cheerful puppy,” Hikaru said after a moment.

Akira laughed. “He really is, isn’t he?”

“Kind of like you,” Hikaru said, interrupting Akira’s laughter.

“You’re not serious, right?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

~~~

Their next destination was Jinbocho. They were wandering the streets when, yet again, they were interrupted by someone.

“Oh, Akira.”

Hikaru turned and raised an impressed eyebrow. It was Hifumi Togo, the queen of shogi herself. How did she know Akira, that he didn’t know.

“Ah, Hifumi. How was your game the last weekend? Sorry about not attending.”

She waved it off. “No worries, I know you must be busy with everything. I saw the broadcast,” she said with a knowing smile. “To answer your question, I won, but barely. There is still much for me to learn.”

She then noticed Hikaru, who was distracted by the books on sale. “And this is?”

“Oh, this is Hikaru, my boyfriend.”

Hikaru rolled his eyes. “I assumed you told her too?” A cheeky smile. Hikaru placed down the book he was reading as he turned to Hifumi. “Nice to meet you, Hifumi Togo.”

“Then you must be…” she trailed off, looking around them. It was surprisingly populated, considering that all it had were bookstores. “I’m sure you have your reasons, much like Akira here.”

Hikaru laughed. “Something like that.”

Hifumi hid a giggle under her hand. She then noticed what Hikaru was reading. “Oh, that’s a good book. I would strongly recommend it.”

Hikaru looked back at the book in front of him. “Huh. Then I’ll get it.” He went off to the counter to pay for the book.

“I must say, he seems like pleasant company,” Hifumi whispered to Akira.

“Quite. He stole my heart.”

“How ironic,” Hifumi replied with a smile. “I suppose he also is with you all?”

“Yeah. He’s the second-in-command, with Makoto right behind. He also acts as our field strategist. Indispensable.” Akira looked at Hikaru fondly. “Both in our work and outside.”

“How pleasant, to see romance in people around you,” Hifumi said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Now, I should be going. I wouldn’t want to intrude on your date for longer than I have. I wish you two the best of luck.”

“It was nice seeing you. Same time on Saturday?”

“Of course.” Hifumi left with a bow, just as Hikaru exited the store.

“Oh, she left? She was kind of cool,” the heir said. “Maybe bring me on one of your shogi nights. I’ll wreck your ass.”

Akira snorted. “You wish. I got training from the queen of shogi, Hikaru.”

“And I have one of the strongest navigation and field strategy Personas. What’s your point?”

Akira sighed. “Touché.”

~~~

They ended at Shibuya, wandering down Central Street. The sun had already set, darkness covering the sky. The nightlife of the district came to life, loud music and people bustling about. Especially now, as Christmas approaches, people begin to run around to do shopping and other tasks.

Nothing much happened and both of them returned to Akihabara, to the hotel where Hikaru stayed.

“Hey, Akira, what do you plan to do for Christmas?” Hikaru asked out of nowhere as they walked down the street towards the hotel. Akira needed to pick up one last something for a kid or someone, Hikaru thinks.

“No idea. Maybe we can do the party for Shido then, if we succeed. We planned this heist to be our last, right?”

“Do you really want to stop there?” Hikaru asked, walking in front and turning to face the other. He held Akira’s hands in his. His face was serious, eyes staring deep into Akira’s.

“…I don’t know. But at the very least, I think we can calm down. I know that we certainly could take a break, and properly address all the issues we’re facing.” Akira replied honestly. “Not to mention, I know it’s still in a bit, but there is still the fact to consider that I have to go home by March. It’s in a while, sure, but it’s coming.”

Hikaru looked down at their joined hands. “…I forgot.”

“It’s been the least of our concerns so far, so I don’t blame you. But when the time comes, we need to properly discuss what we’re going to do. I don’t want to lose you, Hikaru.”

Akira pulled the heir into his arms.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, with Hikaru against Akira’s chest, in his arms.

“I don’t want you to leave,” the heir whispered.

“I don’t want to leave,” Akira whispered back. “I want to stay with you, with Ryuji, Ann, and all the other Thieves. I want to stay in Tokyo, even if it means it’s in the attic of Leblanc. I want to stay because I found a place where I belong, but I can’t.”

“…I’m going to miss you.”

“As will I. You can bet I’m getting on the train over here whenever I can. And I’ll be here for university, definitely. But my parents are asking me back for at least the final year of high school.”

Hikaru knew it was selfish of him to ask Akira to stay, but could you really blame him? It was the person who had saved him during his darkest times, giving him a choice. It was Akira who brought light into his dark life, lighting hope for this world in his heart. It was Akira who gave him the slight push needed for his Persona, one of the best things to ever happen to him, to form.

And Akira was the one he loved, the one who had made his way into his heart.

“Can you stay with me, just for this night?”

Akira hummed, leading them inside. “What about Akechi?”

“I’ll get reception to move him to another room. I trust him enough to not run out. I just want to spend some time with you tonight.”

~~~

The moon shone brightly through the glass wall. Hikaru was asleep on the bed, curled up under the blanket. Next to him was Akira, who was watching the heir sleep with a fond look on his face.

It was a rare sight that made Akira want to squeal. Hikaru looked so soft, rolled up and covered by a blanket so much bigger than he was. His cheeks looked soft, his lips gently parted, a silent breath. It made the leader of the Thieves wonder how he got so lucky.

Akira slipped under the blanket, taking off his glasses and putting them on the nightstand. He rested his head on the pillow, staring at Hikaru with a smile on his face.

“I’ll never leave you, Hikaru. You mean the world to me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we start with some loose ends, and then we go into Mementos.


	47. Into The Depths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final day, and then into Mementos.

The world around them began to sound like white noise. The news that was surrounding the TV station hijack began to die down, and now everyone began treating it like a myth, as if it never happened. It was suspicious to Akira, but he didn’t comment on it. Everyone was probably busy with their daily lives. But when Shido’s change of heart is announced, then everyone will have to notice.

It was in an hour, after all.

“Nervous?”

Hikaru’s voice interrupted his thoughts. He snapped out of it, turning to see his boyfriend enter, along with the rest of the Thieves. “Yo,” Ryuji greeted.

Morgana, ever so eager, leaped from the counter into the heir’s arms. Hikaru barely caught him with a chuckle. Akira smirked from behind the counter. “Why doesn’t my cat do that to me?”

“At this point, he likes me more than you.”

“That’s a fact. Hikaru gave me fatty tuna sashimi, that’s enough to gain my trust.”

“Ah, heartbreak. My boyfriend cheats on me for my cat.” Akira gasped dramatically, swaying on his feet.

“Is this how you two flirt?” Ann asked, barely holding in giggles. “How are you two the only ones dating?”

“What can I say, Ann? I’m just a fucking snack,” Akira responded with a wink, making the blonde girl gag.

“The election polling should be announced soon, yes?” Yusuke asked. “Perhaps we should do some studying first.”

“Studying?” The Thieves, minus Haru, Makoto, Futaba, and Hikaru echoed.

Makoto sighed. “Did you all forget that there are finals tomorrow?”

A moment of silence. And then chaos.

“Wait, what the hell?!”

“Holy crap, you’re right!”

“Fucking shit!”

Hikaru covered Futaba’s ears, gaining a glare from the smaller girl. “Language, Akira.”

“Wait, I’m not even going to school!” Akira sighed in relief, almost collapsing on the counter.

“Uhh…you sure about that?” Futaba asked.

“…Yes?”

“Well, Makoto says otherwise.” Akira turned his fearful gaze to the student council president. Makoto was staring at him disapprovingly, arms crossed, foot tapping against the wooden floor.

“I do believe you’re no longer out-of-commission. Shido’s not hunting you. The same could also be said about you.” Makoto turned her gaze to Hikaru.

“Yeah, but I’m officially missing. I would have to sit through interrogation and questioning of what happened to me, where I’ve been, and also reuniting with my dear father. The entire process will take, what, a few days? And whose average is high enough to pass without taking finals?” Hikaru said all of this with a mischievous grin.

“Hikaru.”

“Yes, Makoto?”

The president sighed again. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “…Fine.”

She turned her attention back to Akira. “You have no excuse, however.”

“That brings up a great question, however,” Ann wondered out loud. “Are you going to head home after tonight?”

“Uhh, not quite yet. There’s still a few loose ends I need to tie up before heading home. Like what to do with Akechi. The efforts on finding me have died down somewhat, so that gives me room to wiggle around.”

“Just remember to stay alert, Hikaru,” Akira said, to which Hikaru nodded.

“I know. I won’t let myself get kidnapped again.”

_“This is it. The polling results are in!”_

Everyone turned their attention to the TV set. _“Our new Prime Minister, which I’m sure all of you could guess, will be Masayoshi Shido! I would like to take the time to congratulate Shido-san, as well as thank all other candidates for a good election. Now, a word from our newly elected Prime Minister!”_

The screen changed over to where Shido was standing on a stage, banners celebrating his successful campaign, a mic in his hand.

“To everyone who is present, thank you for your time. I would like to say that the title of Prime Minister was not one that I had gained, but rather that it has been gifted to me by all of you, by the public who has chosen to put their trust in me.” Shido began.

The Thieves held their breath.

“And that is why…I must come clean.” The cameras in the room went wild.

“I would like to confess to my crimes, of which I had many. I am unfit to take the mantle of Prime Minister.”

Chaos ensued at the scene. Reporters asked questions in a cacophony, Shido’s PR staff quickly got all live cameras to stop broadcasting, all while Shido bowed his head in shame.

“Hell yeah!” Ryuji cheered.

The Thieves sat there, satisfied at the work they have done. They had done it. Shido’s heart has been changed. The world will now know what the politician had done, and the true perpetrator of the mental shutdowns. Everything will come to light.

“What a way to end it, isn’t it?” Yusuke mused.

“Yeah. Now Mom can rest in peace,” Futaba added with a soft smile. “It’s all over.”

“Everyone who has been manipulated by Shido will be free,” Makoto said. “The greatest work by the Phantom Thieves yet.”

Haru gave a content hum. “It feels good, to see the one behind such massive crimes behind bars.”

“Yeah, we did it!” Ryuji pumped a fist in the air.

“Now, one last thing…” Hikaru muttered, looking over to Morgana. The cat nodded with a determined expression.

“What now?” Ann asked. “It feels like such a large enemy has been defeated. What happens to the Thieves now?”

“Anything you wish,” Akira responded. “But regardless, we’re still sticking together. There’s nowhere else for us outcasts, right?”

~~~

Finals felt like a flash. Granted, it was three days, which isn’t that long of a time, but it almost felt so. Akira’s return brought back rumors as always, while Hikaru remained missing. There’s been the start of rumors that the heir might’ve died by now, which always sent a chill down Akira’s spine. Mishima and Ann gave him reassuring looks, which usually helped calm down his anxious heart.

He knew his boyfriend was safe.

Hikaru had spent the three days tying up loose ends, as he had said. The first order of business was what to do with Akechi. However, it seems that Akechi himself had a plan.

“Turn yourself in?”

Hikaru was in Akechi’s room, a regular hotel room one floor down. The detective had spent his time mostly confined to his room, only occasionally heading outside for a meal or two before ducking back into the hotel. He didn’t have any way to hide his appearance like Hikaru did, so that left him little options.

“Yeah,” Akechi said, looking down on the soft linen sheets. “You will all need someone to testify against Shido’s claims. That’s how it always has been. And the only one who can testify to Shido’s crimes in the Metaverse is either me or the Thieves.”

“…Akechi.”

The heir’s eyes were filled with concern.

“Don’t worry, Hikaru. If anything, I owe all of you. I was meant to die in that ship, wasn’t I?” Akechi asked, causing Hikaru to bite his lip.

“…I was going to ask you to, but I didn’t want to. I care about you, Akechi. You’re as much of a friend as anyone is, and I’d like to think that everyone deserves second chances.”

“Do you really think that a murderer like me deserves second chances?” Akechi asked with a sad chuckle.

“Yes.”

Akechi looked up, meeting Hikaru’s blue orbs.

“The fact that you would turn yourself in and serve what would most likely be a sentence for third-degree murder. That would be lessened by the fact that it is a confession, but it won’t be short. That alone deserves a second chance in my book.”

“You make me sound like some self-sacrificing messiah. I’m the one who killed most of them.”

“And you’re making up for it by going to jail for your crimes. You realize what you’ve done, and you chose to take responsibility. I would like to think you’ve reformed in some way. If you believe this is the right choice, then I think you’re no longer the deranged serial killer with daddy issues.”

Akechi faked an offended look. “Excuse you.”

Hikaru laughed in his face.

“But in all seriousness, thank you,” Hikaru said once the laughter died down.

“…Don’t mention it. Seriously. You’re the only one out of all those Thieves I can actually stand. If they know what I did, they’ll do their annoying thing again.”

“To think we’ve come so far in two months. From being tortured to making secret deals.” Hikaru said, sitting down next to Akechi.

“…Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Meh, it’s fine. Now I have cool battle scars.”

Akechi quirked an eyebrow at him. “…One way to look at it.”

Hikaru laughed again, bringing a small but visible smile to Akechi’s face. This time, it was much more genuine.

~~~

Next on Hikaru’s list was double-checking the infiltration plan and liberation of the Velvet Room.

“Hey, can I borrow your cat for the afternoon?”

Akira gave him a weird look but didn’t question him, letting Morgana jump from his bag into Hikaru’s arms. “Thanks. I’ll bring him back before night falls, don’t worry.”

Morgana meowed.

“Sure? You can keep him for the night though, no pressure.”

“No, it’s fine, I don’t want to take care of him.”

“Hey!”

Hikaru brought the complaining Morgana back into his hotel room. He then grabbed the Velvet Room coin on his nightstand and flipped it. It emitted a blue light, and a door opened before them. Morgana cheered. “I’m going home!”

“I’m sure you are.”

When they entered, Morgana immediately jumped out of his arms, already in his Metaverse form. He stood in awe for a moment, observing the interior of the Velvet Room.

“Oh, who do we have here?”

The cat turned and leaped over to Elizabeth. “Lady Elizabeth!”

“Why, hello to you too, Morgana. It is nice to see you once again. I hope everything has been well?” The attendant kneeled down and petted the hope of humanity on the head, gaining cheerful squeals.

“Yeah! We just took down Shido!”

Elizabeth gave him a grin. “I am sure you are doing a great job,” she said, as if he had said nothing. She stood back up and looked over to Hikaru, Apollo already next to him.

“Come, Hikaru, there is much we need to plan. The day is almost upon us.”

“What’s happening?” Morgana asked, moving to sit in Hikaru’s lap. The heir wrapped his arms around the cat, softly resting his chin on Morgana’s head.

“Oh, Lady Elizabeth, are Theodore and Lady Margaret not here?” Morgana asked.

“I’m afraid that they have been busy in preparation. They are out, trying to break the seal around our master so that he may take his place once again. I shall be joining them as well soon.”

“Then, what about the operation?” Hikaru asked.

“We believe the both of you, along with the Trickster and Lavenza, will be enough to keep the false god occupied. Once we manage to free our master, the false god will naturally be expelled from the room.”

“That’s a bit hopeful, isn’t it?” Hikaru whispered, which Mona heard.

“A bit, yes, but I don’t think we have a choice. Master Igor’s our biggest asset. If we don’t have him, it’ll be hard to even control the room again, even if we manage to expel Yaldabaoth.”

Hikaru bit his lip. “Then about Mementos?”

“The depths should be accessible come the day after, as the public’s cognition slowly gets taken over by Yaldabaoth’s control. It would be our only chance to catch the god off-guard.”

“Going through what amounts to an entire Palace in a day?” Morgana whispered. “That’s going to be exhausting.”

“I don’t think we have a choice,” Hikaru responded.

“Yeah…”

“I do apologize if this is much to ask for.” Elizabeth bowed her head, her expression remaining blank. “But it is imperative for us to take the opportunity presented to us.”

“I’ll bring it up with Akira. I can get him to call the meeting,” Morgana said. “I’m sure everyone noticed the lack of response about Shido’s change of heart, so they’ll act.”

“Alright.”

~~~

“An infiltration of Mementos?”

The Thieves were in Leblanc on the days after the finals. They had come due to a request from Akira.

“You all know about what’s happening, right? Or rather, what’s not happening?” Akira started.

Everyone looked at each other and nodded.

“There’s been almost nothing about Shido’s change of heart. Usually, the media would eat it up, but there’s almost no news about it. In fact, everyone’s ready to welcome Shido as their new Prime Minister, as if nothing happened at all.” Futaba typed on her laptop as she spoke. She turned the screen over to them. “See? Almost nothing.”

_Where the hell is Shido?_

_So glad someone like him’s Prime Minister_

_yo did yall look at the news today?_

_what should I get my gf for christmas…_

“Yeah, I was walkin’ down Central Street and heard people talking about Shido. Said that he was on break due to health conditions, what a load of bull.” Ryuji scoffed.

“Will this persist? Will everyone just ignore what we have done?” Haru muttered.

“Most likely, yeah. In fact, there’s been comments online about the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Saying things about hunting and executing the rest of them.” Futaba frowned.

Morgana jumped onto the counter. “This is a problem of the public’s distortion. As such, there’s only one place where this can be a problem, right?”

“Mementos…” Hikaru muttered, staring at the cup of coffee in front of him. Akira watched him with curiosity, seeing the grim expression on the heir’s face.

“Hikaru, you alright?” Ryuji asked, taking a seat next to him. Hikaru blinked for a moment, and his regular expression came back.

“Yeah, I’m fine. How are we doing this?”

“I don’t know why, but something in my gut’s telling me that we need to get through this as quickly as we can,” Morgana added. “It feels like the public’s cognition will shift, and our chance to take the Treasure of Mementos will be gone.”

“That’s…yeah. Something feels really wrong here.” Akira looked around the café, at the team of elite phantom thieves that stole hearts.

“But I should tell you guys,” Morgana said, catching everyone’s attention. “Mementos is the public’s distortion, where Palaces form. If we take the Treasure in the depths of Mementos, there will be no more Palaces.”

“So that means…” Ann trailed off.

“Yeah. The Phantom Thieves would be out of business.”

A moment of silence engulfed the Thieves.

“I say we do it.” Everyone turned to Hikaru.

“The reason the Thieves formed in the first place was to induct social reform by changing corrupt individuals, no? So what better way than this to make sure no one goes distorted anymore?”

“I agree,” Yusuke said. “While I have treasured our experience as the Phantom Thieves, I must say that being greedy and wanting the Thieves to go on in exchange for corruption in the world is against what we have been fighting for.”

“No objections here. It’s been a great run, but like Hikaru said, this is the reason we started this in the first place, yeah?” Ryuji grinned.

“I’m going to miss stealing hearts, though…” Ann sighed. “But I’m not objecting. And it’s not like we can’t stay friends after all of this. In fact, I would say it’d be impossible for us not to be friends after all this.”

“If it stops people like Shido from ever abusing their power, then I’m hands down. If it saves someone’s life…” Futaba nodded. “Yeah, I’m in.”

Haru and Makoto looked at each other and smiled. “Then I think we’ve come to a decision,” the heiress announced.

“You guys…As your veteran Phantom Thief, I couldn’t be more proud!” Morgana chirped, standing on the counter.

Akira smiled. “Then we’re set. I’d say we head in tomorrow, once I do one last equipment check tonight. Now, the real question…” Everyone turned to him.

“Do you think we can get through the entire depths in one day?”

Makoto was, as always the first to respond. “Excuse me, what?”

Akira didn’t falter this time. “It’s as Mona said. We have no way of making sure that Mementos stays locked in its current state for a period of time. Adding on the fact that it's Christmas the day after, the public cognition is sure to change. If any time works, it has to be tomorrow.”

“The Thieves who stole Christmas,” Futaba said to herself, giggling. Next to her, Hikaru snorted.

“I suppose we shall meet tomorrow?” Yusuke suggested.

“Tomorrow it is.”

~~~

The last thing on Hikaru’s list was probably the one he should’ve done first. He sat down at his desk, with a pen and paper ready.

_Dear Father,_

_Things are still unclear. I’ll come home as soon as I can, but as of now, there is still one more major issue before I can safely come home. Know that most of the threat is gone, but I want to confirm it before I come home. I will fulfill my promise to you. I love you, Dad._

_HA_

The letter was short but to the point. He said what he needed to. He folded up the sheet of paper and slipped it into an envelope, leaving it by his bedside. Hikaru yawned, getting into bed. It was pretty late already, and he needed to go with Akira to do weapon maintenance tomorrow. It might also do him some good to stack up on some stamina-recovery items, especially since they’re doing a one-run.

Hikaru went to sleep, dreaming of dark skies, shadowed figures, and a pale entity.

 _“I am the will of the masses, their wishes incarnate. You dare to go against me, foolish mortals?”_ A loud voice bellowed.

A bright flash of light.

_“This isn’t looking good…”_

_“Joker, your wound!”_

_“Watch out!”_

A loud clang.

_“Sky, what’re you-”_

Cracking.

_“No!”_

_“Just get out of the way!”_

_“Are you stupid?!”_

_“It’s not worth it, Sky!”_

One last smile.

_“Live for me, Kira.”_

A shattering noise. A burst of blue flames.

_“Hikaru!”_

A bright flash of light once again, and darkness.

Hikaru jolted awake, cold sweat covering his body. His hands were shaking, his body shivering. He sat up, bringing his knees to his chest.

An ethereal light glowed in front of him. _“I didn’t mean to show you that.”_

“…Is it real?”

Apollo went silent. _“You know the truth as much as I do, Hikaru.”_

Hikaru took a deep breath and sat up, heading to the desk. He turned on the desk lamp and began writing another letter.

_“If this is the role I must play, then very well.”_

_~~~_

“Apollo, Supernova!”

A beam of sharp light cleared the Shadows in front of them, allowing the motorcycle and the van behind it to go through without any issue.

Sky was on Anat, who had transformed into his bike form, with Queen driving. A spear of nuclear energy was gathered at the tip of the bike, burning and vaporizing any Shadows directly in front of them. For the larger Shadows, a blast of Sky’s attacks did the trick instead.

“We should be coming up to the entrance of the depths!” Oracle called from the back seat of the van.

Her map had somehow cleared up, the previous ever-changing maze that was Mementos becoming locked in place. Hallways no longer shifted, entrances and exits no longer disappeared. With that, it was easy for the combined efforts of Sky and Oracle to find a path for them straight down.

“Panther, go wild!” Sky called.

“Say nothing more!” The girl grinned, throwing her mask out the window. Flames burst around them, taking Sky’s place as he chugged a can of soda.

“Fox!”

A green light surrounded Mona and Queen, speeding them up even further. They sped down the train tracks, leaving piles of Shadow dust in their wake.

“We’re here!”

The two vehicles came to a stop in front of a large platform. It led to a massive gate, as wide as the platform itself and as tall as the huge chamber they were in. Beside them, the trains came to a stop.

“Is this where the trains lead to?” Noir asked, looking around.

“Seems like it,” Joker replied. He turned to look at his team. “Let’s get to the root of this, Phantom Thieves!”

“Yeah!” They cheered in unison.

As they approached, the doors in front of them creaked open with an ominous sound. A dark mass of crystalline shapes was all they saw, giving them an ominous feeling. Red lines covered these crystals, swirling in unrecognizable patterns. The path before them was one of these crystals, leading deeper into the room.

“This is…” Queen whispered. Joker breathed and continued on, the Thieves behind him.

“Eyes in the sky.”

Mona and Sky nodded, splitting from the group to scout ahead. Mona ran ahead to scout their surroundings, while Sky tried to get a reading of enemy locations. The main group of Thieves carried on, keeping watch for any Shadows nearby. Sky stopped them before they entered a large, empty room.

_“Stop for a moment. Wait.”_

The group froze and immediately took cover. Right as they vanished, three Shadows exploded from the ground, crawling out from pits of black. They split up into two, one of them heading their way. The Thieves hugged the wall and hid in the shadows. The Shadow wandered past, not noticing the figures along the sides.

Joker’s eyes glowed a crimson. He raised three fingers. One dropped. And another.

When the third fell, the Thieves moved in for the kill, eliminating the Shadow before it had a chance to make a single noise.

~~~

“Mona, scout out this path,” Sky assigned, sending their location. “I’ll trail you and scan enemy activity.”

“Got it.”

The pair moved without a word, Mona’s blue eyes scanning back and forth. Behind him, with a sigh, Sky rested a hand on the crystal they were on. The landscape of the depths of Mementos was all over the place. Some places were reminiscent of actual rooms and Palace-like architecture they have seen, but others were just strange. The walls felt alive, shifting, pulsating. The crystal hummed with some sort of dark energy that made Sky feel off.

He didn’t want to stay for long. It gave him a headache, like that weird space in Madarame’s Palace all that while ago.

“Three upcoming.”

Sky closed his eyes, channeling his powers.

_“Stop for a moment. Wait.”_

He tracked the Shadows as they split and watched the signal of one of those Shadows disappear.

“Sky!”

He turned over to Mona, who beckoned him over. “Look over there.”

A scowl grew on Sky’s face. “That’s…”

It was a massive prison cell filled with a crowd of people. Each of them was chained down by an iron ball, but that wasn’t the point. The point was the people inside.

“It’s all our targets…” Sky muttered. A surface scan shows that it was indeed the exact same Shadows that they had fought.

“Even Shido,” Mona remarked. “They don’t even seem to be struggling.”

_“Move forward. I think you guys might wanna see this.”_

“Come on,” Sky said, leaping off the crystal to rejoin the group.

They arrived at the jail cells, some Thieves letting out gasps of surprise. Joker’s expression hardened. The first their eyes met was their first target, Kamoshida.

“Kamoshida…” Panther fought a shudder. Skull rested a hand on her shoulder, calming the girl down. They narrowed their eyes at their former teacher.

“Oh, it’s you all.” The PE teacher’s eyes glazed over them, devoid of any light. “I should thank you, Phantom Thieves. You returned me to the prison. You showed me back to where I belong.”

“What is he…” Skull whispered.

“Oh, Yusuke.” Fox grimaced, turning to meet his former master in the eye. They were the same as Kamoshida’s, dull without any emotion. “Why are you out there? You should join us.” A chorus of agreements rang out from the others in the cage.

“Is this what happened when we changed their hearts?” Queen pondered, noticing Kaneshiro within the group.

“Seems like it…” Mona muttered. He rested his head on his paw. “But it shouldn’t be. The change of heart would clear all distortion and allow the Shadow to live free, similar to the effects of gaining a Persona. But this is almost as if they decided they would stay here.”

“Father!” Noir called, seeing her father sitting on the floor.

“Haru…? Why are you out there? Come join us inside, where it's safe.” Okumura responded, slightly monotone. Haru recoiled, taking a step back at the look of emptiness on her father’s face.

Joker walked to the front of the cage. “Shido…”

The politician stood up. “Welcome, Thieves, to the Prison of Regression. I should thank you. You truly opened my eyes and allowed me to see what I was doing. Why would I attempt to lead the nation, when it is so much better to stay here and obey? Everyone here agrees, after all.”

“This is…unsettling,” Sky added. An alert interrupted his thoughts. “Split!”

The Thieves obeyed within a fraction of a second, just as Shadows appeared right where they stood. The Shadows turned to them, melting into their true form. The dark ooze surrounded them from all sides, trapping the Thieves.

“Smite these inmates!” The Shadows, a group of Melchizedek, cried in unison. They rushed forwards from all sides, fists clenched and wound up.

“Mona!” A barrier blocked the attack, staggering the Shadows. Taking the opportunity, Mona leaped off of Sky’s shoulder, summoning his Persona.

“Mercurius, Magarudyne!” Winds lashed from Mona, deterring the winged humanoids and sending them crashing down. They struggled to get on their feet, dizzy from the wind attack.

Queen was the next to react. “Anat!”

Nuclear energy shot in a wave, vaporizing the Shadows, leaving nothing behind.

“…And that’s that, I guess…” Joker said to himself.

“What do we do with all these people?” Skull asked, gesturing to the people in the cage. “Don’t think they wanna escape, either…”

“Ignore them, I guess. This place will be gone regardless, no? Since we’re stealing the Treasure and everything.”

~~~

Joker stopped at the edge of the massive pit, looking over the edge. “Yeah, no idea how far that goes.” He turned back to his team. “Everyone feeling fine?”

“Just need a quick break, Joker,” Queen said, slipping the brass knuckles off. “Someone pass me a cup of coffee.”

“Here.” Panther grabbed a thermos of coffee from their inventory, passing it over to Queen. The brunette muttered a quick thanks, taking a sip and sighing in relief.

“Sky, progress report?”

“Still a decent chunk to go, Joker. At least, as far as I can see. Something’s interfering with my sight.”

Joker raised an eyebrow. “Is that a cause for concern?”

Sky shook his head. “If the distortion is strong enough, this happens. And this is the core of the public’s distortion. I would be surprised if this didn’t happen.”

“If you say so. Can we get a map?”

A hologram formed with a wave of Sky’s hand, showing the descending pit that was the depths of Mementos. It was separated into four layers, with them at the edge of the first. He gestured to the pit. “I’m assuming this is what will lead us down to the second layer.”

“This third layer looks massive, though,” Noir commented, hands behind her back. “This floor mainly contained larger chambers and paths, whereas this next floor looks to be smaller, meaning more exploration to find the right path, no?”

“That’s true, so this will probably be the bulk of this entire Palace. Are we still stocked up on equipment to keep going?”

Skull gave Joker a thumbs up, Joker nodding in response. “If everyone’s good, let’s keep going.”

“Hey, Mona, is anything coming to you?” Panther asked.

“Hmm?”

“You mentioned the fact that your memories were tied to the depths of Mementos, right? Then is anything coming back as we explore?”

Mona thought for a moment. The cat felt guilty lying to Panther, but he had to. This was the territory of Yaldabaoth. He had to be careful. “It definitely feels familiar, this place. But nothing’s standing out yet. I’ll keep you all informed.”

“We’re good to go, Joker!” Skull cried, taking the attention away from Mona. The cat let out a silent sigh, giving a nod to Sky. The heir gave him a smile in return.

~~~

The third floor, as Sky and Noir had said, was massive. The paths for them were much narrower, with no large areas or corridors. The only main features were the puzzles and the cell.

_“Hold up.”_

_Everyone stopped at Joker’s command. In front of them was a large cell that contained what seemed to be a metal door. A plaque was placed in front of it._

_Joker approached it. “Imprisoned here is the most dangerous inmate in Mementos.” He looked up at the door again. “What could this lead to…?”_

_Sky bit his lip, his ears picking up a familiar song. It was the song of the Velvet Room, and it seemed to come from that door. That must mean…_

_“I remember now.”_

_Everyone turned their attention to Mona, who was staring at the door. “I was born here.”_

_“Wait, here?” Noir asked. “What do you mean, Mona-chan?”_

_“I came from there,” he pointed to the door. “Whatever’s behind there, that’s where I’m from. I’m sure of it.”_

_“That’s one mystery solved, but we still don’t know what’s behind that door…” Fox hummed._

_Sky picked Mona up in his arms. “That’s Joker’s Velvet Room, yeah?” The navigator softly whispered to the scout, gaining a slight nod._

_“So the biggest inmate chained by society is him…the irony of it is funny,” Sky snorted._

The puzzles were odd, to say the least. Their random placement baffled the Thieves when they first saw them. After all, who would expect to find dungeon puzzles a la Legend of Zelda in the core of humanity’s distortion?

_“Uhh…” Oracle stammered, staring in disbelief as the floors lit up when they walked past it. She walked, and the lights died once she made a full circle._

_“What the actual hell?” Skull whispered, scratching the back of his neck._

_“…Well, let’s just get past it.”_

Really, easier said than done.

The floor was filled with them, each one getting harder and harder. Queen had suggested helping to solve these puzzles, but Joker had said that he was fine. Confidence or hubris, it showed very soon.

The first few were simple. Joker solved it without much thought, easily moving on. Then came the part where pillars were lowered, unlit floors, and a lot of other factors.

“You sure you don’t need help?” Sky asked, barely holding in his laughs. Queen and Oracle looked rightfully done, while the others had been discussing how to solve this one.

“Don’t we have a time restriction? Shouldn’t we hurry this up?” Queen asked, arms crossed.

“Just give us a moment, Queen. We’ve almost got this figured out.” Joker waved her off. “Now, if we go here, then it’s a dead end…”

It took another few minutes of discussion before Oracle threw her hands up and ran through the thing, solving the puzzle and forming the path in front of them. Queen rolled her eyes and continued forward with an annoyed Oracle and laughing Sky, leaving the shocked second-years behind. Noir hid a giggle behind her gloved hand, running to join the others.

“That was funny as hell,” Sky said between laughs. “Did you see their faces?”

“Not fair,” Joker complained while pouting, running up to catch up with everyone else.

Sky smirked and leaned in to give Joker a kiss on the cheek. The leader flushed. “You took too long, honey.”

“…Why are you like this, Sky?”

“Weren’t you the one who started this, all those months ago?” A teasing smile.

~~~

“This should be it…” Sky muttered as the group approached another massive pit. “Go down this and we should be at the center of the depths. Double-checking, everyone’s fine?”

No protests.

Joker stood at the front, turning to face all of them. “We don’t know what’s waiting for us down there, so just a little pep talk.”

The Thieves looked at each other with amused faces but listened to what Joker had to say.

“Now, we’ve come far. We started this due to Kamoshida, really. A last-ditch effort. Along the way, we grew, becoming the large group standing before me. I couldn’t be more content with how we turned out, starting from small targets to the goddamn Prime Minister and now, Japanese society itself. A few rough times in the middle of all of that, but we made it. Really, if we didn’t have to disband, we’d probably move on to the global scale or some shit like that.”

“So, with all that, I just wanted to say, no matter what happens after this, I’m asking if we can stay connected, just like before. We’ll still be friends, yeah?”

Skull smacked Joker on the back, a grin on his face. “You have another thing comin’ if you think we’re just gonna ditch you after everything we went through!”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure no one here plans to just abandon our group,” Panther added, brushing a pigtail back.

“We’ve been through more than most friend groups, I would say. That must translate to something,” Queen said with a smile.

“That is true. I would say all of you are indispensable allies in the journey of life.” Fox replied.

“Ew, Inari, that was cheesy as hell,” Oracle cringed. "But yeah, the art maniac's right."

“I’m glad that I joined you all that day. Who knew so much could happen from that one encounter?” Noir giggled lightly.

Mona grinned. “I should be the one saying that. Who knows what would’ve happened had you two not wandered into Kamoshida’s Palace all that while ago?”

“So there’s your answer.” Sky walked forward until he stood right in front of Joker. Behind their masks, onyx black eyes met sky blue.

“No matter what, you know I will stay with you. We’ve been through a lot, and at this point, nothing’s going to stop us from being together.” Sky reached up and planted a kiss on Joker’s lips.

“No one’s leaving you alone.”

“And that’s all I can ever ask for.” Joker turned to the pit with a serious expression.

“Then one last good heist, for real this time! Phantom Thieves, let’s go!”

“Yeah!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm skipping past most of the Palace because, to be perfectly honest, I don't really remember much about what happened. Therefore, it's not noteworthy.


	48. The Truth Revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cut dialogue down because, let's be real, all Yaldabaoth is repeating is that humanity is braindead and that he's the leader. That's what he's saying over and over again, in case the fancy, ancient language in the game confuses you.

The desolate tower stood before them, surrounded by floating pieces of debris. The Thieves trod on, once again with Mona and Sky trailing. They jumped into the tower, scaling down the wall into the main arena. It was empty except for a large goblet in the middle of the room, with red tubes flowing out of it. The tubes seemed to be connected to the walls of the tower.

_“Looks empty.”_

Joker nodded, and with one final glance at the Thieves behind him, jumped in.

“The Treasure…?” Fox inquired softly.

“That’s it,” Mona said, joining the group. He pointed to the large cup. The cup itself was a dull black, with gears and shifting parts all around it. “No doubt about it. That’s the Treasure of Mementos.”

“How do we get that out of here?” Noir asked, looking at the size of the thing. The cup itself looked to be at least ten meters tall, maybe even more. It definitely wasn’t something they could just lift and run with.

“We just need to get rid of it, yeah?” Skull asked. “If we can’t take it, then we’ll just destroy it!”

When he said that, the inmates began to stir. Shouts and screams can be heard from them, causing a cacophony of noise. The Thieves got into battle-ready positions. The gears on the cup began to spin faster, as if it was activating.

“Why would we expect anything different…?” Panther sighed, readying her whip. “There’s obviously no way this thing, nor the inmates, will just accept that.”

“Something’s wrong,” Queen said, glancing around. “Didn’t our targets say that this was their salvation? That everyone wanted to be here?”

“Yeah, that’s been bothering me too,” Joker commented.

“So this Treasure materialized from that? A thought?”

_“No time for that, split!”_

A beam of light shot from the cup, where the Thieves stood. “Oracle, Sky, analysis!” Joker called.

“No idea! Try everything!”

“Then, Attribute Specialist!”

Sky joined Mona, Queen, and Panther. With a nod and a flare of magical energy from Panther and Oracle, they readied their magical attacks. “At your command, Joker!”

“Skull, Oracle, boost!” Joker called, running in. Orange light surrounded them, boosting their Physical skills. They attacked without any hesitation, strong blows and cuts all over the cup. Once they unleashed their attacks, the Physical group leaped back.

“Fire!”

Beams of boosted magical attacks blasted against the cup, leaving signs of damage all over it. The gears creaked as they spun, some parts were chipped off. It was clear that they were leaving an impact.

“No!” They turned to the walls of the tower they in. An inmate was yelling at them. “Don’t touch it!”

Shouts in protest of their actions slowly grew, until all they could hear was a mess of combined voices.

_“I am the combined will of the masses. They wish to be contained, and you dare to go against that will?”_

A deep voice echoed in their minds, making the roar of the masses seem like nothing. Joker narrowed his eyes at the cup. “It’s only natural that we do, that’s what we’ve been doing all this while!”

_“Even if that is what they wish? To be controlled, as if by some puppet?”_

The tubes from the cup began glowing red, channeling into the cup. It glowed with an eerie red, and all the damage on it began to fade. Oracle swore. “What the hell? That’s cheating!”

“Don’t touch our Holy Grail, you bastards!” Someone yelled.

_“I am the personification of humanity’s desire to be controlled. You, Thieves who wish to go against me, have no place here.”_

A sheen of gold covered the dirty black, giving the Holy Grail a slight shine.

“Is this really what people wish for?” Noir whispered to herself. “To not think at all?”

“It’s pure bullshit!” Panther protested. “Hecate, light it up!”

Flames slammed against the Holy Grail, but it let out no sign of concern. The inmates’ protests grew louder as the Thieves resumed their assault.

“To be controlled by others…that’s so frustrating that I want to scream!” Oracle yelled. “I won’t be stopped!”

“No one truly wishes to live in the shadow of another, but to burn brightly like the sun. I have learned that, and if I must, I shall educate the world!” Fox cried.

_“Your efforts are wasted. This is the will of humanity who have succumbed to the sin of Sloth. No amount of protest shall overthrow the masses’ will.”_

With another glow of red, the cup recovered from all its injuries, becoming a brighter color. The gear in front glowed a bright purple, and from it shot multiple beams of light.

The beams were easily deflected by Sky, who moved to stand in front of the Thieves. “A personification of the masses? Everyone wishes for this? Aren’t we proof enough that not everyone wishes to fall under your control? Who are you?”

_“You…Insolent Thieves. This is but what the masses want. I am only here to grant them their wish.”_

Sky narrowed his eyes, blue flames flaring around him. “Your story doesn’t line up, Mr. Personification of the Masses. The masses don’t have a single wish, it is multiple and split. There is no true way to determine the wishes of the masses. As such, there can be no one entity who rules over the masses’ wishes. So, I ask again, who are you?”

_“Humanity wished for me, and so I have come. They have wished to be free of thought, so I give them what they wish. It is by my means that they are able to live such lives, free of suffering and despair.”_

“You’re not answering me.” Sky rushed forward in a moment, a knife in one hand. “Reveal yourself, you false god!”

A blast of pure magic shoved Sky back, sending him crashing towards the Thieves.

“Sky!” Mona yelled, immediately rushing to the other.

“Don’t touch our Holy Grail, you filthy Thief!”

_“Humanity has become indolent. They do not wish for anything, but instead to be free from the choice. They wish to be free of thought itself. Their will strengthens me. This golden sheen is proof of it.”_

The Holy Grail was fully golden now, brighter than anything else in their vicinity.

_“Soon, you too shall see the light. It is time I encroach reality itself and bestow upon humanity their true wish. The time for the fusion has arrived.”_

“W-what?” Queen stuttered, but the Grail grew brighter, blinding all of them.

When they opened their eyes again, the Grail was gone. Everything was silent.

“Where did it go?!” Skull yelled in anger.

“Wait, the floor!” The floor began glowing a bright white, and they were blinded again. This time, they felt a strange pulling sensation.

~~~

_“Morgana…I…am…”_

“Everything is in place. We will save you soon, Lady Lavenza.”

~~~

They were deposited onto the Station Square in Shibuya. No one seemed to care, only doing their own thing.

The Thieves rushed on their feet, and then noticed their surroundings.

“…Shibuya?” Yusuke muttered.

“Our clothes are back to normal!” Haru noted.

“Did we get expelled by the Grail?” Akira asked, which Morgana nodded to.

“Seems like it.”

“…What do we do? We couldn’t do anything…” Ann muttered, frustration on her face.

“We can’t just give up here,” Hikaru said, looking up at the sky. “But more importantly…” he narrowed his eyes.

A drop of crimson liquid dropped from the sky. And another. And another. Before they knew it, it was raining a crimson liquid. The earth shook, rocks jutting out. The large TV, which was announcing the news for the day, turned into static. No one else, however, seemed to react at all.

“Yo, I’m here! What’re we doing today!”

“Yes, about the meeting tomorrow…”

“What do you feel like eating for dinner tonight, sweetie?”

Hikaru looked around. The people around them were going about their daily lives, as if nothing ever happened.

“No one seems to see any of this…” Makoto whispered.

“Phantom Thieves? What’s that? Some new video game or something?”

“Stealing hearts? What kind of fairy tale is that?”

“Hey, any news on Shido? He’s actually got me interested in politics.”

“Wha-” Futaba swayed on her feet, falling over.

“Futaba! You okay?” Ryuji rushed to her side, catching her before she fell over.

“Everything feels…wonky. What’s happening?” A sharp pain then grew in Ryuji and Ann’s skulls, causing them to fall over too. The rest of the Thieves fell like dominoes, one after the other. Hikaru was the last to fall, falling on all fours with heavy breathing.

“What bullshit is-Ugh!” Ryuji fell forward. He turned back to look at his legs, and his face paled. “W-What the hell?!”

Ann gasped, and then noticed the lack of feeling in her hand. She turned to look to see her hand dissipating, just like the Shadows they have killed. “What’s happening?!”

“This…can’t be real…right?” Makoto whispered. Her hand began to dissipate right before her eyes. “There’s no way…”

“What is this?! Was this done by the Holy Grail…?” Yusuke’s body began evaporating into dust.

_“This was not done by me. This is the will of the masses. Mementos and reality have become one, and as such, there is no place for one who is removed from the public’s cognition. Goodbye, Thieves.”_

“No!” Ann screamed, her voice getting cut off as she turned into dust.

“This…This has gotta be some bullshit!” Ryuji yelled, vanishing just as Ann did.

“No…No!” Futaba clutched her head and collapsed into a fetal position, dissipating as she did.

“Is this the end…?” Yusuke muttered, closing his eyes as his body vanished.

Haru could barely say a word before she too was gone. Makoto watched her friends disappear with despair over her face. “Where…did we go wrong…?” she whispered, disappearing.

Morgana turned to look at Hikaru. “This is…”

Hikaru nodded. “We’ll be fine.”

Morgana huffed. “I’ll come and get you.” The cat vanished into dust.

“…Hikaru, are we going to die?” Akira said softly, turning onto his back.

“Everything will be fine, Akira. I’ll protect you.” Hikaru pulled himself to Akira’s side. “I’ll always be with you.”

Akira reached out to touch his boyfriend, but Hikaru dissipated in front of him, leaving nothing behind. The leader sighed, looking up at the sky. “…Will you?” His hand turned transparent, and he was gone in a blink of the eye.

~~~

“Hikaru.”

Hikaru snapped awake, quickly taking account of his surroundings. He was in a prison cell, Morgana outside, in his Metaverse form. “You up? Let’s go.”

“How do I…?” He then noticed the color theme of the room he was in. “Oh. Then let me just…”

Blue flames surrounded him, replacing his daily clothes with his Metaverse outfit. Apollo shimmered into existence, gently tapping the cell door. It dematerialized, reuniting the two Thieves.

“Akira?”

“He’s fine, but he’s going to need help. He’s on death row if Yaldabaoth continues.”

“Then it’s our job to stop that.”

Hikaru rested a hand on the floor of the cell, getting an idea of the shape of Akira’s Velvet Room. “The main room is over there,” he pointed.

“Then let’s go.”

They silently made their way towards Akira, watching every corner. It seemed like there was no one. All the hallways were empty, no sign of life at all. The only sounds Hikaru’s sharp ears could catch were the sounds of magic from their destination.

“I got this handled. Can you look for the rest?”

Morgana gave him an unsure look but trusted Hikaru. “Alright, but I’ll be back soon.”

“It is time, Inmate. It is truly regretful, but as our Master orders, we must follow,” Justine said. Her eyes were averted.

Akira was barely standing, heavily injured. He huffed, looking at the twin wardens. “…Is this really what’s supposed to happen?”

They stayed silent.

“The finishing blow, girls,” the fake Igor commanded. The girls, as if controlled by a puppet, moved forward. Blue flames surrounded them as they prepared a final spell.

“Atomic Flare!”

“Psycho Force!”

Their attacks clashed wildly, stirring up a storm of dust. The girls sighed, looking away. “That should be it,” Justine said.

Beams of light shot from the smoke, the twins just barely dodging. Their eyes were wide with shock as they jumped to the other’s side, prepared to attack.

The smoke settled, revealing a blue shield around Akira. In front of the Trickster was Hikaru, his eyes narrowed at the fake Igor sitting at the desk. Akira’s eyes were locked on Hikaru’s back, shock and awe on his face.

“You…the anomaly! How did you break free?!” Caroline yelled, her baton aimed at him.

“By walking out. More importantly, however…” Hikaru shot another beam of light straight at Igor, which was blocked by Justine.

“We shall not simply allow you to hurt our Master.”

“Master? Him? I don’t remember Igor being some fake god trying to manipulate the servants of the Velvet Room.” The twins gasped. Caroline shook her head in denial.

“No…no way, right?”

Justine, on the other hand, remained silent.

“…Justine?”

“…I have always had the doubt. It would be false for me to claim otherwise.” Justine turned to face her twin. “Haven’t you noticed, Caroline? What actions have we done that would constitute under ‘rehabilitation’? Shouldn’t the rehabilitation of the Trickster allow him to change the world? Why are we punishing him for what he did?”

While the twins were talking, Hikaru turned to face Akira. “Hey,” he said with a smile, “you good?”

“…Hikaru?”

“That’s my name, yeah. You still sane?”

“How are you here?” was all Akira could say. “How did you get in here?”

“I’ll explain later. Actually, everything will be explained later. This is the secret I’ve been keeping from you, and I finally can tell you everything. So, thanks for waiting.”

Golden light surrounded Akira, curing him of his wounds. Akira grinned. “…I’m just glad you’re still here.”

“I told you, didn’t I? I’ll always be with you.” Hikaru pulled Akira into a hug.

Akira’s lip trembled. “…Yeah.”

“Now, I’ll take over from here. Just watch.”

Hikaru disentangled himself from Akira, leaving his boyfriend by the side of the room. He then turned to face Caroline and Justine, who had conflicted expressions on their faces.

“Will you two help me? Or will you stop me?”

Justine took a step forward. “…This is the greatest gamble we have made, but we will trust you, anomaly. You speak of the truth hidden within us. Now, we come to you with a request.”

Caroline followed her. “We ask you to fuse us. By ourselves, we are incomplete. But together…”

“Then, I shall help.”

What happened next was strange, even for Hikaru. An unknown power came over him, and he began emitting a velvet glow. His eyes slipped close, his hands slowly coming up. The two twins turned into balls of light, each in one of Hikaru’s palms. The lights began to float towards each other, as if drawn by some unseeable force. They kept going closer, closer, closer, until they came into contact.

When they touched, a velvet light glowed from it, blinding everyone. When they looked back, a young girl stood in front of Hikaru, a thick book in her hand. She was wearing a velvet blue flowy maid-styled dress, her eyes gently glowing a soft yellow. She first addressed Hikaru, performing a curtsy.

“You have brought me back from my split form. For that, I must thank you, Sir Hikaru.”

“My pleasure, Lavenza. Now, we should do something about him.” He turned his gaze to the fake Igor, who let out a deep chuckle. Dark energy began emanating from the long-nosed man.

_“I should compliment you, Igor. Your foresight has proved to be immaculate, as always. I have never thought that the anomaly was under your jurisdiction. A sly move.”_

Lavenza’s face turned stern. “You do not belong here, false god of the masses. Begone.”

 _“My business is not with you, attendant.”_ He turned to Akira, who had stumbled to his feet. _“Trickster.”_

“…What?” Akira asked, guard up.

_“I would like to propose a deal.”_

Akira glanced over to Hikaru, who nodded. He turned back to the fake Igor. “Go on.”

_“The masses’ wishes are unchanged. They will remain, for as long as there is a higher power. I give you this, however. I believe you are aware that with the destruction of Mementos comes the lack of Palaces. The Phantom Thieves will be no more. But if I am allowed to rule, that shall never be the case. Palaces will continue to form, and your merry Thieves may continue as they please, as the one true beacon of hope for humanity.”_

“That is preposterous!” Lavenza exclaimed. “To allow distortion within the public left unchecked is reckless! The balance of the Sea of Souls and the living realm would be in constant unbalance!”

_“I present you a choice, Trickster. I await your answer.”_

Akira looked over at Hikaru once again, unsure. The heir looked over with a soft smile.

“No matter what you choose, I believe in you. I won’t leave you, Akira.”

There was a clear right answer here, morally. But when compared to Akira’s inner wishes, it wasn’t as clear-cut as it was before. He didn’t want to confront reality. He didn’t want the Thieves to stop. He wanted to stay with Hikaru, with the rest of the Thieves, and change the hearts of the corrupt, one at a time. But he knew that he could never take it.

“I’m declining your offer,” Akira said with an air of finality. “No matter what you propose, I will decline. You have fooled me for long enough. I won’t let any lies slide anymore.”

“Well said, Trickster.” Lavenza smiled to herself.

_“…Very well. Then the time for mercy has ended. The next time we meet, I shall be using everything in my power to wipe you from this planet.”_

And with a flash, the fake was gone.

“…What happened?” Akira asked, still confused by what happened. A shimmer of light appeared behind them, surprising all of them. At the desk was a long-nosed man, slumped on the desk. Lavenza immediately rushed to his side. “Master!”

“Oh…has it already been done?” The real Igor’s voice was high-pitched, a sharp contrast to the deep baritone that Akira had associated with Igor. The man turned and grinned at Akira. “Trickster, allow me to introduce myself. I am Igor, and welcome to the Velvet Room.”

He then turned to Hikaru. “And you as well, Sir Hikaru. Elizabeth and Theodore have informed me about your assistance and devotion to our cause, to which we greatly thank you. Of course, there shall be an ample reward, but that can be discussed later.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Igor. And I am just doing my part, nothing more.”

Lavenza turned to talk to Akira. “Perhaps it is best you gather your allies before we explain further. They are most likely found within the halls of the prison. It would be best for you to speak to them alone.”

“Meanwhile, I would like to have a chat with you, Sir Hikaru.”

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

A chair materialized in front of Igor’s desk. “Please, sit.”

Hikaru turned to meet Akira’s concerned gaze. He pulled the other close for a quick hug. “I’ll be fine, I’ll still be here when you come back. Just go and get everyone else, and we’ll explain everything.”

“…Okay.” With that, Akira ventured into the hallways of the Velvet Room, leaving Hikaru with Igor and Lavenza.

“To start, I would like to properly thank you for your service to the Velvet Room.” Lavenza bowed in her master’s stead.

“It is only the right thing to do. There is nothing strange about it.”

“Such righteousness…not a bad trait to have.” Igor giggled to himself. “I have heard that you have awoken to the Sage. Would you mind if I took a look?”

Apollo appeared by his own will, standing beside his master. The Persona bowed. Igor’s grin grew wider. “Simply amazing. I truly have made the right choice in selecting you.”

“That is a question I wanted to ask. From what I know, I was selected out of the many people that could have been chosen. May I know why?”

Lavenza answered this time. “You were chosen due to your inner self, Sir Hikaru. We have seen the spirit of rebellion that burned in your heart and gauged it to be a strong Persona. One that could possibly turn the tides of battle. One of the Archetypes.”

“The Archetypes are special Personas, as no doubt Elizabeth and Theodore have mentioned. They are the building blocks upon all of cognition, forming the core images of the human psyche. Each one of them holds their own abilities, each having a certain specialty,” Igor expanded.

“The Archetypes are old, and with age comes power. They are unmatched in terms of raw power, even compared to the strongest Personas. Only they are allowed to choose who they serve, and for however long they decide. To control one of the Archetypes is a rare occurrence, especially considering the fact that they have a skewed perspective of time. Even I do not know whom the Archetypes serve, if at all.”

Lavenza hummed. “The only Archetype that evolves accordingly is the Sage, who governs the fields of knowledge, wisdom, and guidance. The Sage can take many forms, but one of the most common is in the form of your initial Persona, Merlin.”

Hikaru let out an impressed whistle. “Well, look at that. Apollo, you’re pretty famous.”

_“Of course I am.”_

Lavenza giggled.

“A Second Awakening Archetype is a rare sight, one I have only seen a handful of times in my many eons of service to the Velvet Room. It is clearly fate that has summoned you here, during these trying times.”

_“I would say it is a bit of that and Hikaru himself.”_

Apollo returned into Hikaru’s mind, making Igor laugh once again. “But I digress. I would like to offer you something as a thank you and recompense, but I will hold onto it until after this matter has been resolved.”

A flash of his dream last night passed through Hikaru’s mind. His mouth tightened.

“Igor, in the chance that I do not survive this, I would like you to pass that down to Akira.”

The man closed his eyes. “You are very kind, Sir Hikaru. Much too kind. Usually, one would try everything they can to avoid death, but you seem to be willing to do the opposite.”

“…I don’t want to die, Igor. I’ll do everything in my power to try and stop it. But sometimes, fate makes choices for you.”

Igor’s grin widened. “Very well, then. If you are safe after this issue has been resolved, then I have an offer for you.”

The sound of footsteps rang behind them. “Master! Lady Lavenza!” Morgana cried, jumping onto Igor’s desk.

“Ah, Morgana. It is a pleasure to see you as well.” He turned to the Thieves. “And all of you. The Phantom Thieves, as you have called yourselves, yes?”

“Yeah. And you two are…?” Makoto spoke up.

“My name is Igor, and this is Lavenza, my assistant. This is the Velvet Room, a room that exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. Now, I believe that there is much to explain…”

~~~

“…So, Hikaru, Mona, you knew all of this?”

Hikaru nodded. “I told Futaba too, just because of the situation.”

“Yep!” Futaba raised her hand. “Can confirm!”

“I did all those awful things to you…?” Akira bowed his head in guilt. Hikaru sighed, walking up to the dejected leader. He lifted Akira’s head with a finger so that they made eye contact. Akira looked away.

“I told you, I’m over it. I knew that it wasn’t you, Akira. I know you would never hurt me.” Hikaru gave him a cute smile.

“Doesn’t change the fact that I did it. I understand why you left all that while ago…I was dangerous.”

Hikaru hummed. “Nothing I say is going to take the guilt away, is it?”

“…Yeah.”

“Then share it with me. You’re not alone, Akira. What burdens you, I will shoulder as well.”

“Hikaru…” The leader of the Thieves made eye contact with Hikaru, a loving expression on his face. “I don’t deserve you.”

Hikaru sighed. “Remember what I said about that?”

Akira chuckled. “Fair enough.”

“God, they make me want to puke,” Futaba deadpanned, causing Akira to jump back, face flushed. Hikaru, on the other hand, rolled his eyes. He winked at Futaba, making her fake a gag.

“I can see why you have made your decision, Sir Hikaru,” Lavenza said to herself with a giggle. “The wondrous emotion that is love…”

“Alright, you two. You can be sappy later. Right now, focus on what the nice man and girl have to say,” Panther interrupted, turning back to Igor and Lavenza. “Please, continue what you were saying.”

“Of course. We would like to enlist your help in one final endeavor. As you must have seen, the reality you live in has been fused with Mementos itself. As such, we would like to ask you for assistance in returning the world to its former state.” Igor said.

“And we’ll do this by…?” Ryuji trailed off.

“The only way this could be done is by overthrowing Yaldabaoth, the God of Control. Overthrowing him would render his control null, and thus restore the world to its normal form. The Sea of Souls and the human realm will return to its balanced state.”

“So, essentially we’re going to need to shoot that thing down, is what you’re saying,” Futaba interpreted, making Igor chuckle.

“I suppose so, for a lack of a better term.”

“Well, that’s one way to put it,” Morgana said with a smile. “Now then, let’s go!”

“Wait, one last question,” Akira said. Igor gestured him to continue.

“What about fusion? Will that still be a thing?”

Igor giggled. “Oh, Trickster. The Velvet Room will always serve as a place where you can strengthen the beings of your heart. Yaldabaoth had done this, albeit with a much cruder method than I prefer. If you wish, I would be happy to assist you in however you need.”

Lavenza nodded. “We are here to serve your needs in order to complete your goal, Trickster.”

“Then, if you don’t mind…”

“Ooh, do we get to see how Akira gets all his Personas?” Ann chirped.

“It has been a source of curiosity, certainly,” Yusuke remarked.

Igor hummed, twirling his fingers. Two cards formed in his hand, turning into balls of light in his palms. These two balls of light then came together,

“Alright, then. Thank you very much.”

Lavenza hummed. “Then, if you wish to exit, I shall lead you back to your world.”

~~~

The world outside was a mess. The sky was a crimson red, bony spikes similar to what they saw in Mementos sprouting out of the ground. There was a path from those spikes that led upwards, towards a large storm. Within the storm, barely visible, was the tower they entered in the depths of Mementos, which held the Holy Grail.

“Does no one see this?” Skull asked, looking around. Everyone seemed to ignore them and the giant spikes from the ground totally, continuing on their day.

“I guess not…The public’s distortion is too strong. They can’t see the changes around us, or us at all,” Sky concluded. He turned to look at the large pathway. “Only one way up, right?”

“Let’s go, then!”

“Yeah!”

They had barely gone up before they were blocked by a beam of light. An angel with short blond hair and blue-green skin appeared before them. “Halt!”

The Thieves looked up at the angel. A Uriel, Sky identified. One of the four archangels as described in the compendium, the Herald of Death. Being a child of the gods, Bless attacks would be useless. He would have to be utility for the rest of the team.

“Return to your prisons posthaste, prisoners. His Excellency shall remain uninterrupted as he proceeds with his preparations.” The Uriel’s voice echoed, the sword in his hand glowing a dull red.

“And if we said no?” Skull said, resting his pipe against his shoulder.

“Foolish mortals. If you dare defy my orders, then you must be the Thieves that His Excellency has informed us of! Then, I shall smite you here, right where you stand!”

With a wave of his sword, two dark blobs formed behind him. “With me, Angels!”

Two Angels spawned from the darkness, bowing before the archangel. They stayed at the back, and Uriel charged in, his sword aimed for the nearest Thief. In this case, unfortunately for them, that was Sky.

“He only has Physical and Almighty skills!” Sky said, blocking the attack. “He’s immune to Bless, but other than that, go ham!”

“What are those two there for?” Mona asked, shooting a blade of wind straight for the Uriel. It placed a deep gash in its side, temporarily forcing it to back off. One Angel drifted to his side, and a beam of green light healed its wound. In exchange, the Angel seemed weakened, on the verge of fainting.

“Well, there’s your answer…” Oracle replied. “Sky, Fox, take care of those Angels! The rest of you, occupy the Uriel!”

“Got it!” With a flash of green light, Sky and Fox dashed towards the Angels, leaping past the Uriel. With Oracle’s speed buff, they moved dangerously, their eyes gleaming with deadly intent. Sky hurled two knives straight for one Angel’s throat, while Fox’s slices were faster than the eye could see. In a flash, both Angels were reduced to dust.

The Uriel growled, trying to swing at them with his sword, but Skull’s pipe blocked the attack. The blond grinned, firing a close-range Ziodyne straight into the Shadow’s chest. The Uriel howled in pain, feeling his muscles lock up due to the blast of electricity.

“Queen!” Skull called, leaping back off the archangel, a hand raised in the air. Queen dashed forward, giving Skull a high-five as she passed him. She gave the Shadow two punches and a roundhouse kick across the face, sending it launching off to the side of the platform.

“Noir!”

A blast of psychic energy tore the Shadow apart, the Uriel dissipating with an inhuman shriek.

“…That’s it?” Panther rested a hand on her hip. “I didn’t even do anything?”

“Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it? We don’t have to expend as much resources as we thought we had to,” Queen said, shaking her hand around to loosen her wrist. “Plus, it shows that we’re stronger than we thought.”

“Oh, yeah, we’re definitely stronger. The path into Mementos’ depths really buffed us up,” Oracle said. “We’re all about equal, with Sky and Joker slightly higher than everyone. At this rate, it seems this’ll be a steamroll!”

“I doubt he’s the only guardian, though…” Joker said, looking up at the pathway they had to ascend. “This thing doesn’t seem short at all, and they’re probably going to get stronger from here on.”

“Then let’s keep going. No time to waste, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next is a little snippet involving our favorite pp chariot and then Yaldabaoth.


	49. Climax

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prophecies take place.

Sky could say with a hundred percent confidence that Yaldabaoth was cursed.

“What the fuck is that?!”

Of all the Personas he has seen, Mara was…well, he has seen images of it before. At that time, he had thought, _“Gross, thank god it’s not going to appear anytime soon, right?”_ and promptly erased its existence from his mind.

As they got stronger, he didn’t realize that considering how strong a Mara is, it would appear before the Thieves.

“Kill it! Kill it with fire!” Panther yelled, burning it with an Inferno. Flames shot from all angles, aimed straight at the dick in a chariot. The Shadow laughed, however, and surrounded itself with the flames. It then grew larger and…harder. Sky couldn’t even move, too filled with disgust.

“Oh, that’s just nasty,” Joker commented. “Sky?”

“Funnily enough, it’s weak to Ice attacks.”

The boys in the group shuddered.

“Well, then…Fox?”

The artist sighed, flinging his mask off. “Kamu Susano-o, Bufudyne!”

A strong gust of cold wind blew against the Mara, making it let out a sharp cry. It shrunk, turning flaccid. Sky cringed even more.

“I’m…” The navigator couldn’t even form a response.

“So, uh, who wants to do it?” Joker asked, looking over to the Thieves. The flaccid penis wailed, flailing around. Panther and Queen let out short squeaks, looking away. Noir looked around, and when no one said anything, walked forward.

“Well, if no one will…” She hummed as she swung her battle axe in a deadly arc, slicing the Shadow’s head off. All the males flinched, looking away.

“Shall we move on, then?” Noir asked, a smile on her face, as if she was talking about her plants on the rooftop and had not just sliced a penis in half.

“Heckin’ yikes,” Skull whispered, making Sky snort.

“…Let’s just ignore that happened, shall we?” No one objected to Joker’s statement.

~~~

The archangels weren’t as hard to defeat as they had thought it would be. Granted, it has been all of them against one being, so you couldn’t call it fair at all. The Raphael after Uriel had been similar, with just a lot of buffs and no backup Angels. It was tough and annoying, sure, but with Sky, Mona, and Panther healing, they took it down with minimal problems.

The Gabriel was about the same. She focused on magical attacks rather than Physicals like the past archangels have, but her ace attack, Divine Judgement, was a Bless attack.

So, yeah.

Excluding the Mara event, they made it up the pathway relatively quickly without any issue. They had to retreat only once to recover their stamina, which Lavenza was more than happy to assist with. Other than that, the Shadows present were relatively weak, really. Oracle had said that their levels were at an average of 73, with Sky and Joker almost at 80. Hearing that definitely gave all of them a morale boost.

They arrived at the final platform before the tower. Much like before, a bright flash of light shone, and another archangel was in front of them. “Halt, prisoners.”

The angel had red skin and gold armor, a long spear in his hand. A Michael. He looked down at the Thieves, an unreadable expression on his face. “You must be the rebels that his Excellency has informed us of. If you have made it here, then surely, the other three have been defeated.”

“You would be right in that assumption,” Joker replied, readying his dagger.

“How arrogant of you humans…to attempt to take down the ruler you have wished for.”

“I don’t remember wishing for a ruler like that at all,” Sky retorted.

“…Clearly, you insolent humans are too far lost. Then, I shall strike you down where you stand! Come to my side!”

Two blasts of dark energy, and two Angels formed at the archangel’s side. Sky and Fox nodded at each other, the latter silently charging up a Sukukaja for both of them. They knew what those Angels were there for.

“Split!” The Thieves dispersed, momentarily stunning the Michael. He didn’t notice the two quick shadows that had snuck behind him until it was too late. With twin cries, the Angels were no more.

“How dare you?!” Energy surged around the archangel as he swept his spear around him. The edge of it sliced deep into Sky’s arm, knocking the navigator away. Sky let out a shout of pain, falling onto his side.

“Sky, you alright?!” Joker yelled, covering the injured Thief. “Cover us!”

“Got it!” The long-ranged magic users fired blasts of magic while the close-ranged attackers took the Shadow’s attention off of them.

“I’m fine, Joker,” Sky said, wincing as he rested his gloved hand on his injured arm. “It looks a lot worse than it actually is.” Pulling his hand away, he huffed at the amount of red on his glove. Was it really that deep?

“We can’t last for long, Joker!” Panther yelled, barely leaping out of the way of a Swords Dance. One of the swords managed to hit her calf, causing the girl to cry in pain.

“Go to everyone. I’ll keep you all healthy,” Sky said with a reassuring smile. Joker huffed but nodded reluctantly.

Sky’s goggles melted off into blue flames as he took a deep breath. When his voice came out, it was thin, melodic, gentle. Behind him, Apollo strummed a calming tune on his lyre. A circle of light covered the entire platform, light softly glowing. All wounds sustained by the Thieves began to close, vanishing as the light beneath them came into contact with it.

The Shadow growled. “To me!” With another wave of his spear, two more Angels spawned, resting themselves on the Michael. In a flash, he was fully recovered, the two Angels seeming like they were about to collapse.

“Don’t stop the attacks!” Joker commanded, dashing in with a point-blank Eigaon. “Panther, Queen, Noir, with me!”

“Understood, Joker!” The three girls moved to Joker’s side, firing their magical attacks.

“Everyone else, focus on support! Keep an eye on Sky!”

Skull and Fox stayed at the back, powering them up with buffs. Mona kept an eye on Sky, watching in awe as the ground below them glowed a bright light. It was beautiful if he ignored the battle going on.

In contrast to his voice, Sky’s eyes were sharp, unwavering. As if he was ready to snap into action at a moment’s notice. Mona hummed to himself, turning to keep his attention on the fight.

“Buffing you guys up!” Oracle called from within Prometheus. The main party felt a rush of energy, powering their magical and physical attacks. “Take him down!”

_“You two, go for the Angels!”_

Skull and Fox turned back to look at Sky. The heir couldn’t stop singing, as the others were taking wounds from the Michael.

_“They’re slowly recovering. If we let them keep healing, they’ll sacrifice all their health for the archangel again!”_

The two male Thieves looked at each other, and then back at Sky with a silent nod. They moved quickly, making sure to avoid the combat happening around the rest. While the Michael was distracted by another barrage of attacks, they struck quickly and hard, returning back into the shadows.

The Michael growled as he sustained even more injuries. He looked back and cursed once again, seeing the Angels he had summoned no longer there. “You foolish mortals…”

“Humanity is not a toy for your god, let that be known!” Joker yelled, driving his dagger deep into the Shadow’s chest. The Michael erupted into dust with a shout of agony, and he was no more.

Sky held a final note, the field of healing around them slowly dying out. Joker rolled his shoulder, feeling no sense of discomfort whatsoever. He turned to everyone else, who was stretching themselves out, and then turned back to Sky.

The navigator was panting slightly but seemed fine otherwise. He gave Joker a reassuring smile. “Told you it’ll be fine.”

“Just don’t overexert yourself, Sky. We need you.”

Sky gave the leader a wry grin. “I know. Let’s head back one last time to fully recover before the final battle.”

“Yeah…” Joker looked over to the entrance of the tower before them. “Sounds good.”

~~~

Sky bit his lip as he followed the group back up the path before them, heading straight for the tower. He knew what was going to happen. Apollo had shown him.

He closed his eyes.

_“Live for me, Kira.”_

His final words, yet to be said, rang in his mind. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes as he thought about it. About how everyone would feel. It made him feel guilty yet reassuring.

They would live. He would not.

The thought already made him nauseous. It was hard, for anyone to accept the fact that they were going to die.

“How mad would he be…?” Sky whispered to himself, a sad chuckle barely heard. He could imagine it now. Akira, absolutely livid by what he was going to do. And then the sadness and despair would come in. It wasn’t a pleasant image to see, and he was slightly thankful he won’t have to.

At least Akira would still be alive.

Hikaru shook his head. No, now was no time to think about this. When the time came, he had to do it. Now was no time to hesitate.

He won’t let the Thieves perish.

~~~

 _“So, you have made your way past my guards,”_ the Holy Grail said as they entered the tower. The cup was, once again, in the middle of the room, with red tubes flowing into it.

“Nice to see you again too, Yaldabaoth,” Joker sneered.

“ _Why must you resist the will of humanity? For what purpose?”_

“The fact that you’re asking that shows me that you know nothing about humanity at all,” Queen replied.

“Humanity is much more than a single wish!” Noir yelled. “The diverse wishes of everyone is what makes humanity so great, and yet you have robbed all of it!”

“So it’s only right we take back what’s ours, yeah?!” Skull ended with a grin.

_“…I suppose there is no point in attempting to show you the truth. Then I shall destroy you where you stand.”_

A beam shot towards them, beginning the final battle.

“Mona!” Joker yelled. The cat nodded, leaping away before the Holy Grail could notice him.

“Apollo!”

“Hecate!”

The combined magic attacks from the two strongest magic attackers slammed against the cup, creating a loud noise. The wires above it began to glow a bright red as the inmates around them once again started yelling in protest.

 _“Have you not learned your lesson, foolish mortals?”_ It began absorbing the energy from the masses, not noticing the small figure to its side.

Mona grinned. “Oh, we certainly have!”

He leaped and launched a sharp blade of wind, slicing the wires with a clean hit. The Holy Grail let out an agonized cry, as did the masses around them.

“Don’t touch it, you fucking Thieves!”

“As if we’ll let humanity be controlled!” Joker shouted back, running up to get a good Megaton Raid on the cup.

The Holy Grail fired beams of light in retaliation, but Sky moved faster, making sure none of them were injured. Any ones he couldn’t cover, Oracle did.

It was slow, but their progress was clear. The cup’s golden sheen began to fade, chipping off.

_“You believe that I cannot access the power of the inmates, just because we aren’t connected? How naïve…”_

The prisoners’ cries grew louder, and small beams of energy shot from each cell, gathering above the Holy Grail.

_“I shall not let humanity’s wishes go in vain, just because of you insolent Thieves.”_

A sense of dread shot down Sky’s back. “Brace for impact!”

The ball of energy shot straight for them, shoving all of them back. Arrows of light, similar to Apollo’s attacks, dispersed, spearing the Thieves. The wounds they took were severe, some of them barely conscious. Sky groaned, slowly stumbling to his feet.

He pulled off his goggles and began to sing.

His breath was soft and his singing was out of tune. Apollo’s strumming continued, however, and the area began to glow. Sky’s voice grew stronger, his singing louder, more stable. The rest of the Thieves began to rouse, groaning as their wounds began closing.

 _“The god of the sun, medicine, and music, Apollo…”_ The Holy Grail muttered to himself. _“The powers with which you wield are impressive, but this is my will.”_

The cup gathered more energy for another blast. Sky interjected, however, cutting off his singing.

“Solar Eclipse!”

The blasts of light met mid-air, exploding into a cloud of smoke. Taking the opportunity, the Thieves prepared their attacks while Mona moved towards Sky.

“You okay?” Mona asked with concern. Sky looked like he was dead on his feet. The exhaustion he felt was clear from his posture. It was drooping, as if he was struggling to even stand straight.

“…’m fine,” he murmured, pulling his goggles off. The exhaustion in his eyes was clear, the orbs being unfocused and dazed.

“You’re not, Sky. Your magic pool after using so many top-tier spells at once should be almost gone. We can’t have you go down, so rest up.”

“I’ll rest when that thing’s gone,” was Sky’s reply. Mona frowned, resting a hand against Sky’s calf.

“Sky…”

The navigator looked down at Mona with a gentle smile. “I’m fine, okay? Everyone needs more help than I do.”

Doesn’t mean you’re less important, Mona thought to himself.

“I know. I’ll take a proper break after all of this. But saving the world and all of humanity comes first, no?”

“…Alright. But don’t strain yourself. We need you, Sky.”

“Sky! Mona!”

Sky grabbed Mona and yanked him away, barely dodging the beam of light aimed where he had just stood, putting an end to their conversation.

Sky chuckled sadly and muttered to himself. “Thanks for the concern, Mona, but it won’t matter. I can only do as much as I can to give all of you a winning chance.”

~~~

The battle was not easy.

Even without the support of the masses, the Holy Grail was still massive. Its attacks were larger in scale, able to hit all of the Thieves consecutively. Sky, on the other hand, was slowly running out of magic. Mona had decided to take off some weight from his shoulders, switching to support, but Sky had to match the especially large attacks with his own. Things were looking bleak.

It took what felt like ages before the attacks ceased.

_“Even after all of this, you still wish to stand against me? You don’t wish to stop and submit?”_

“To hell with that!” Skull yelled, slamming his Persona against the cup.

_“…Then I am left with no choice.”_

The cup went silent, along with the inmates. An eerie silence.

“What’s going on?” Panther asked, taking the moment to catch her breath.

“Is it dead?” Queen added on.

“There’s no movement, but…” Oracle bit her lip. “Something feels…off.”

Just as she said that, the ground beneath them began to shift.

“What’s happening?” Fox yelled, stabilizing himself.

The cup opened up, forming a ring of wings. The platform around them began to fall apart. First, the walls, and then the floor itself. It split into different chunks, some falling down, some still standing.

The Holy Grail began to grow, emerging from the ground. Connecting to it was a metallic body, made seemingly of silver. The ring of the Holy Grail became a golden halo, above an empty, metal face. Three sets of golden wings spread from its back, with a set of silver prismatic shapes below its torso, pointing outwards.

Sky struggled to catch his breath, the mere presence of the god’s true form exerting pressure almost strong enough for him to collapse altogether.

“That’s so unfair!” Oracle complained, leaping back into Prometheus.

_“I am the administrator born from the collective human unconscious. The god of control, Yaldabaoth.”_

“How massive can this thing get?!” Panther yelled.

_“Humanity has proved its foolishness time and time again, and as the administrator, it is my duty to purge mankind. Even when given hope, to make the first step forward, they have chosen the opposite. They chose to regress, to be led.”_

“Purge mankind?” Noir furrowed her eyebrows.

“That’s a load of bull! You rigged this shit to begin with!” Skull shouted back.

_“If left to their devices, the world will definitely fail. No amount of intervention can save you now. Rehabilitation is impossible.”_

“You say that like you tried in the first place!” Sky growled. “Not all humans are bad!”

_“That is true. There are many wonderful citizens. But they do not make decisions, only follow the path laid for them. There is no thought. No decision making. The process of thinking leads to pain within humans, and as such, they will happily remove that option from their minds. My existence itself proves that. I was created for the belief that there is a higher power, one capable to lead them.”_

“If you believe that you’re that high and mighty, then what if you get defeated by some humans?” Joker proposed.

_“I am the sole leader of this world. If you believe yourself to be strong enough to stand against me, then you shall face justice from the heavens.”_

A wave of energy rushed from Yaldabaoth, causing the Thieves to stagger.

“That thing is massive…do we really stand a chance?” Fox muttered.

“You kidding me?”

Everyone turned to Mona, who had a huge grin on his face.

“This is as good as it gets! What better final target for the Phantom Thieves than a god?!”

Sky was the first to laugh. “Well, he’s not wrong.”

“Still way too big for my liking, I would say,” Queen responded with a smile on her face.

“We can do it, I believe in us!” Noir cheered.

“Alright, I’m going full gamer mode!” Oracle pumped herself up.

“What a fitting end to our legacy. I must say, I am getting inspired,” Fox said to himself. “I shall paint this once we are finished.”

“Let’s take that thing down!” Panther rested a hand on her mask.

“No problem with me!” Skull added with a grin.

Mona looked back at everyone with a fond expression. “Man, you guys are either stupid as all hell, or the most loyal idiots. I couldn’t have asked for a better team.”

Joker grinned. “Then let’s knock this god down! Phantom Thieves, get ready for the fight of your lives!”

“Yeah!” Everyone cheered in response.

Yaldabaoth hummed. _“If you still wish to oppose me, then I shall show no mercy. Rebels who try to defy me, you shall perish.”_

_“First, the sin of lust that consumes the love of humanity.”_

A golden arm grew from its side, reaching into the prismatic shapes below its torso. One of them lit up, and the arm emerged with a gun. The gun aimed for Sky, shooting.

The navigator didn’t even have time to move or let out a noise before a swirl of energy rushed through his body. He fell to his knees.

“Sky!” Joker yelled.

“He’s fine! Just focus on taking that thing down!” Oracle called. She got out of Prometheus, landing in front of Sky. Her eyes glowed a dull green.

“What’s…happening? I can’t move…” Sky’s breathing was quickened, cold sweat trickling down the side of his face. “I feel warm all over…”

“Lust,” Oracle whispered. A console appeared in front of Oracle, who began typing madly. “I can try to cure this, but I need time!”

“Got it!” The first attacks were launched, aimed for Yaldabaoth’s main body. Joker, Fox, Noir, and Panther were in the front, with Skull and Queen providing buffs for the team.

_“The sin of vanity that consumes the truth of humanity.”_

Another arm appeared from behind the god’s back, this time pulling out a bell. The bell rang, and another swirl of energy shot forward, this time aiming for Noir. The heiress screamed, feeling black ooze cover her.

“Vanity…” Oracle whispered, not looking up from where she was typing, trying to cure Sky.

“That’s the same thing from Madarame’s Palace…” Sky managed to get out. A shaky hand reached to his face, pulling his goggles off.

Apollo appeared, surrounding Noir with a golden light. The black ooze melted off, and Noir let out a sigh of relief. She immediately retaliated with a blast of psychic energy, knocking the arm holding the gun off balance.

The gun aimed at Fox, shooting a bullet at the artist. This time, it was just a regular, albeit large, bullet, making dodging a lot more easier for the nimble Fox.

Arrows of light formed above Joker, who blocked the attack with an Eigaon. The dark energy repelled the light attack and rushed straight for Yaldabaoth.

“Alright, you should be good,” Oracle muttered, swiping the console away. Sky gasped, feeling the heat all over his body vanish without a trace. He sighed, getting up and nodding his thanks to Oracle.

“I’ll add a magic boost and some magic recovery.”

Sky smiled, feeling a small amount of magic return to his stamina pool. “Thanks, Oracle.”

“Supernova!”

Blasts of light fractured from Apollo’s bow, strong enough to instantly destroy the two hands. The gun and bell fell to Yaldabaoth’s side, unable to move.

_“The sin of gluttony that consumes the hopes of humanity.”_

A massive sword was next, followed by another status ailment. This time, it was on Panther, and Sky knew what to do. “Gluttony, so it’s Hunger! We’re going in order of the Deadly Sins!”

“Astarte, Amrita Drop!”

The Hunger ailment was cleared, giving them an opportunity to strike back while Yaldabaoth was preparing his next attack.

_“I must commend your bravery, humans. To stand against a god is no small feat. Is it confidence, or foolishness?”_

A wave of energy shot from Yaldabaoth, knocking all of them off their feet.

Sky swayed on his feet. His face was pale, his breathing shallow. Slowly tipping over, he fell on his side.

“Sky!” Mona yelled, running to his side. “Queen, focus on group healing!”

“Understood!” Another wave of attacks were launched against Yaldabaoth.

Oracle cussed silently within her Persona. “Sky’s down! He’s out of magic, and that last attack chipped down the rest of his health!”

“Mercurius, Samarecarm!”

An azure light surrounded Sky, dissipating into his body. The heir began to stir after a few moments, a hand resting on his temple. “Did I…?”

“You’re actually pushing yourself too much. Take a moment and recover properly.”

“I can’t…you guys need me,” Sky tried to protest, getting back up on his feet.

A book was the next thing that appeared. _“The sin of wrath that consumes the patience of humanity.”_

Mona yowled, feeling anger course through his veins. A strum of Apollo’s lyre calmed him immediately, the anger dissipating.

“That was…a rollercoaster of emotions,” Mona said, making Sky chuckle. “Quite literally.”

“Well, at least we can predict the effects of his attacks. They seem to line up with the Deadly Sins, so the next one would be Greed. Get ready!”

“Roger!”

“You should try to conserve your magic, Sky. Only use it if we’re in danger,” Joker ordered without looking back. “And no field healing.”

“…Got it, leader.”

Yaldabaoth hummed, pulling the gun out once again. _“The sin of greed that consumes the wishes of humanity.”_

Sky felt his body become so much heavier. “What the…” His link with Apollo felt so much weaker, needing that much magic to summon his Persona.

“Greed increases the magic you use!” Oracle yelled. “Sky, don’t cast anything, you’re low enough as is!”

“Watch out!” Queen yelled, watching the sword. It charged up for a sweep but only could reach the few in front.

“If I can’t cast magic, then…” Sky crouched down, unslinging his rifle.

“Mona, assist! Phantom Thieves, Bullet Hail!”

In unison, the Phantom Thieves all pulled out their guns, firing rapidly at the god. The hail of bullets was then boosted along with the help of Mona’s winds, shredding the silver coat of the god.

 _“Foolish humans…”_ The gun fired at Skull, who tanked the shot. Arrows of light shot towards Panther, who engulfed them in flames. The sword came in for another attack, this time targeted at Noir, who shoved the attack back with a strong wave of psychic energy.

 _“Resistance is futile.”_ The book fired a beam of magical energy at Joker, who maneuvered out of the way. The bell returned, ringing a haunting tune.

_“The sin of envy that consumes the trust of humanity.”_

Panther screamed, feeling a sense of jealousy overtake her mind. She shook her head, trying to think straight.

“Panther’s jealous! Any support spell, use on her!”

“How long does this last, Oracle?!”

“I’ll try to get rid of it, but it’ll take a while!”

_“The sin of pride that consumes the wisdom of humanity.”_

The book snapped open but otherwise remained idle. The other weapons unleashed another wave of attacks.

“This isn’t looking great!” Skull yelled, shooting electricity for one of the arms.

“No!” Sky yelled.

The arm holding the bell fell, but the book moved. Skull gasped, feeling a wave of exhaustion fall over him. The blue flames around him flickered, reforming onto his face.

“The book will repel attacks!” Sky yelled. “Take it down first!”

“Queen, I’m buffing you!” Joker shouted. “Blast everything down!” Blue light surrounded the nuclear Persona user, who nodded.

Next to her, Panther growled. “Why her?! Buff me instead!” She lashed her whip at Joker, only then realizing what she did. “Wait, no!”

Joker gasped, feeling the trickling of blood running down his side. “How did that do so much damage…?” he muttered to himself.

“Joker, your wound!” Noir gasped.

“The envy’s still there!” Oracle reminded them. “Panther, focus on support!”

“Ah, fuck!” The blonde girl cursed, ripping her mask off. “Hecate, Blazing Hell!” Flames exploded all over the metallic god.

“Anat, Mafreidyne!” Nuclear explosions immediately followed Panther’s attack, one on each of his arms and one on his body itself.

The arms all fell down to his side, broken. Yaldabaoth himself only hummed, taking the hit.

_“To have withstood my attacks so far, I truly must commend you. You have proved to be a much more formidable foe than I have imagined. But I am the will of the people themselves.”_

With a flourish, he reanimated his four arms. Fox clenched his teeth. “Were our attacks ineffective, then?!”

_“Bow before the wishes of humanity itself.”_

Each of the four arms shot a beam towards the god’s chest, converging into one attack of pure energy. Oracle’s eyes widened as she saw the huge readings from the attack.

“That’s a death beam! Break the arms to weaken the attack!”

The Thieves fired attack after attack in rapid succession, but the arms themselves were no longer as weak as they were before.

“What the hell is this?!” Skull growled, feeling the energy of the attack radiate outwards. “Seiten Taisei, full power!”

“How massive is this attack?!” Fox exclaimed. “Kamu Susano-o, don’t hold back!”

In the end, they could only take down one arm. The attack had grown to the size of the platform they were standing on.

“…Is this it?” Joker whispered, looking at the large ball of magic.

_“Foolish mortals who have resisted the change of humanity, your end is here. I applaud your efforts, but this is the will of humanity itself.”_

Joker bit his lip. The situation seemed hopeless. Magic abilities within the group was running low, morale was rock bottom, everything seemed hopeless. He could only watch as the large attack was fired straight for them.

“No!”

A loud slam could be heard.

“Don’t give up!” Sky shouted, barely standing under the strain of the attack. It was time.

“Sky, what’re you-” A cracking noise interrupted what Joker was about to say.

The barrier began to crack at the point of contact. Sky didn’t falter, however. He had to narrow the range, focus it so that it wouldn’t wipe all of them out. There was no way he could block this, after all.

“Apollo!”

The Persona began singing, beams of light narrowing the attack into a single beam.

“Wait, Sky, no!” Oracle screamed once she realized what he was about to do. “Just get out of the way!”

Queen was the next to see it. “Sky, it’s not worth it!”

Skull and Panther were next. “Are you stupid?!” They yelled in unison.

“You’re not planning to…?!” Joker gasped.

Sky’s face melted into a warm smile as the barrier cracked even more, spreading all the way to the edges of the shield. He turned back to look at the Thieves, all looking at him with an expression of shock.

“I’m sorry, but you all need to go on…There's no other option. This is the line for me. I'm sorry.” Sky turned to Joker, tears erupting from his eyes. His smile widened.

“Live for me, Kira.”

The barrier shattered, and they could only watch as Hikaru took the attack that was meant to destroy all of them. Akira’s mouth was wide open, still processing what had happened. All that was left was a pair of goggles that fell onto the platform, the rest of Hikaru gone with any last traces of the attack.

“Hikaru!!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've foreshadowed Hikaru's death all the way in Chapter 1. Heck, one of the key ideas when I drafted this a whole 2 years ago was this scene. This, and the fallout of this.


	50. Resolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end.

_Live for me, Kira._

The words rang in Akira’s mind as he watched Hikaru’s goggles erupt into blue flames, disappearing. With that, there was no trace of the heir’s existence: he was gone like the wind.

“No…This gotta be some sick joke, right?” Ryuji whispered.

“Hikaru’s reading…it’s gone.” Futaba’s words sent a shiver down everyone’s spine.

“Impossible…” Haru gasped, barely holding back the tears in her eyes.

 _“To think the anomaly would give his life to protect all of you…”_ Yaldabaoth said. _“What a foolish decision.”_

“What the fuck do you mean?!” Ryuji growled, eyes becoming foggy. “You know jack shit about what we’re going through!”

“Akira…?” Makoto rested a hand on their leader’s shoulder.

“There’s no way, right…? He promised to always be by my side…”

Makoto flinched. “…I’m sorry.”

Ann walked up to the two, on the verge of tears herself. “…Did he know?”

Akira slowly nodded. “…He definitely knew. He was Sky, right? He had to, but he still did it.”

“Why didn’t he tell us?”

Makoto answered. “Because he knew we’d stop him. He’s always been so self-sacrificing, that idiot.”

_“A valiant effort, but that doesn’t change anything. You will still face pure destruction. That is the will of the world.”_

“You…you’re the one who killed him…” Akira’s jaw was tightened, his expression dangerous.

The grief the Thieves felt slowly morphed into anger. Anger at Hikaru, for not saying anything. Anger at themselves, for not doing anything. And anger at Yaldabaoth, the one who had killed their friend in cold blood.

_“A shame. He would’ve been such a valuable pawn, to have one of the Archetypes under my control.”_

“Shut the fuck up!” Akira roared, flinging his mask off. “Satan, Ice Age!” A sharp blizzard immediately flash froze the three remaining arms.

“You’ll pay for what you done!” Ryuji echoed. His hands crackled with electricity, eyes a bright yellow. Seiten Taisei began glowing a bright white as he sped towards Yaldabaoth.

“William, Agneyastra!”

“How dare you…!” Bright flames gathered around Ann, her eyes turning a bright scarlet. Behind her, Hecate began glowing as well.

“Celestine, Blazing Hell!”

“Hikaru was a friend to us all, the one who has saved us many times. It is our turn to honor his name!” Yusuke bellowed, eyes a frost blue. Kamu Susano-o was enveloped in white light.

“Gorokichi, Vorpal Blade!”

“To think that Hikaru would willingly sacrifice himself so that we may get a second chance,” Makoto muttered, her expression deadly. Her eyes were glowing an ethereal blue. “It would be wrong if I didn’t take full opportunity of this!”

“Agnes, Mafreidyne!”

“I won’t let Hikaru’s sacrifice go in vain!” Futaba yelled, her Persona glowing a bright light. Her eyes shined a neon green.

“Al Azif, Ultimate Support!”

“My greatest friend, I am sorry that I wasn’t able to save you,” Haru began with a bow. Her eyes were bright pink as she reached to pull her mask off. “I will finish what you have started!”

“Lucy, Mapsiodyne!”

With their newly evolved Personas, their attack became that much stronger. The combined might of the Thieves managed to shred through the remaining arms. The anger driving them allowed them to tap into their innate powers as well, which mixed with their already strengthened attacks.

_“Do you still resist, after seeing the fate of your ally?”_

Yaldabaoth let out a sigh and respawned all of his arms.

_“The wishes of the public will not change so easily.”_

Another wave of energy shoved all of them back, knocking them onto their backs.

_“The public does not believe in the Phantom Thieves. They have wished for confinement and the freedom of mind, and I am the one who was born to fulfill their wishes.”_

“No…we won’t let it end like this!” Morgana got back on his feet, bright winds surrounding him. “Diego, Salvation!”

An azure aura shot from the newly evolved Persona, bringing the Thieves back from the brink of death.

“One more time!” Akira called.

The Thieves fired another wave of strong attacks, holding nothing back. This time, they targeted all their attacks for Yaldabaoth’s main body, ignoring the arms. The god hummed, taking the attacks. When he spread his arms, darkness clouded the Thieves’ vision.

“I can’t see!” Makoto yelled, struggling to keep her eyes open when a strong gust of darkness blew against them.

“If only Hikaru was here…” Akira wished.

_“A futile effort. As long as the masses wish for me, I shall be undefeatable. Goodbye, Phantom Thieves.”_

~~~

_“A futile effort. As long as the masses wish for me, I shall be undefeatable. Goodbye, Phantom Thieves.”_

Mishima felt a shiver run down his spine. There must be something he can do, right? He was the admin of the Phan-Site, one of the people who can see through this mess of a world right now. That had to mean something, right?

He took a deep breath and shouted with all his might.

“You can do it, Phantom Thieves!”

The chaos around him silenced immediately, everyone turning to face the teen.

Mishima tried to hide his nervousness, continuing on. “Don’t you all see?! The Phantom Thieves are fighting whatever’s causing all of this! They need our help!”

“…Phantom Thieves?”

“They’re fighting what?”

Mishima didn’t give up, feeling the adrenaline run in his veins. “They’re the ones working to fix the world back to how it should be!”

The silence stretched on, and Mishima felt an uncomfortable pressure gather over him. The stares felt sharp, almost dangerous.

“He’s right!”

The voice that agreed with him carried along with it an authority that made the people part.

Aozora Kazuyoshi looked up at the red sky. “It would seem that the world is not in its natural state. And at this point, there is nothing we can do but hope that the Phantom Thieves, the only ones who can change the world, find a way to fix it. It is beyond our control.”

“That’s…”

“Yeah!”

“Go, Phantom Thieves!”

In a moment, public opinion immediately changed. The support for the Phantom Thieves grew louder and louder until it was all they could hear.

Mishima turned to look at the CEO with a grateful expression. “Thank you very much for your support, Aozora-san,” he said with a bow.

Kazuyoshi shook his head. “It’s only normal for me to side with you. Plus, what kind of father would I be, if I didn’t support my son as he tries to change the world?”

“You mean…you know?” Mishima’s eyes widened.

The CEO gave the teen a knowing smile. “The stretch of the Aozora is infinite, Mishima-kun. I know everything about what my son does, and who he is with. I trust that he can take care of himself, which he has shown to me he is much more than capable of.”

“Woah…” Mishima could only gape at the wealth of knowledge that was in the man standing in front of him.

“Now, let us support the Thieves as well, alright?”

~~~

_“What is this?”_

Even as high up as they were, they could hear the echoes of cries from all the way in Shibuya.

“Take ‘em down, Phantom Thieves!”

“We believe in you!”

Akira grinned. “Seems like the public you believe in changes their opinion just as easily as we thought.”

_“Impossible. There is no way that the public can live without freedom from decision.”_

“Think again, tinhead!” Ryuji yelled with a cocky smirk. “No one wants to live in darkness!”

“This is the power of human hope, the thing that you believe to be irrelevant!” Morgana cried, feeling the world around them light up with the wishes of everyone.

Akira pulled his mask off and flung it into the air. It burned into blue flames, but no Persona came.

_“…It is as you see. The public’s wishes still lie with me. Nothing comes to your call.”_

“Oh, are you sure about that?”

The clouds above them parted as an astronomical Persona slowly descended from the heavens. It was almost the same size as Yaldabaoth, perhaps even larger. It had a black and gold motif, with two large horns by its head. Six bat-like wings were on its back, one of its hands holding a long-necked rifle. It gave an aura of chaos and order altogether.

Morgana smirked. “If a god is playing dirty, then it’s a demon lord’s duty to put him in his place!”

“How symbolic,” Yusuke muttered, a smile on his face. “The lord of hell, here to free humanity from the clutches of a god.”

Akira had a wide grin on his face. “Destroy him, Satanael!”

“Sinful Shell!”

The demon lord raised his rifle, aiming straight for the god’s head. With a loud bang, the shell was shot.

The bullet traveled cleanly through the metal head of the god, leaving behind a hole. The god could only manage out quiet whispers.

_“How could this be…? Have I been defeated?”_

“That’s correct.”

_“…Perhaps humanity has not fallen. What power…So this is the true power of the Trickster. It seems that fool Igor was not spouting lies…”_

The god began to shine a bright gold, and with a flash, he was gone.

What was left was a golden cup, floating in front of them. Mona slowly approached it, turning to look back at the Thieves.

“It’s the Holy Grail, the Treasure of the public. With this, the world will return to its normal state. No amount of distortion can hide the truth in the public’s eye anymore.”

“Mona…?” Futaba whispered.

“Really, I didn’t expect to come this far. You guys are truly the best Thieves I could ask for. I got to be a thief and saved humanity in the process. It really doesn’t get any better than that. So, thank you.”

He looked at the cup. “With this, the Metaverse will disappear. Everything will be back to normal. Time to head home.”

He touched the cup, which began to glow brightly.

~~~

“What the hell?”

They arrived in Shibuya, which was flooded with the red liquid. The crimson rain had stopped, but the liquid was all the way to their waists. It was as if time was frozen. Everyone was in mid-movement, frozen in place.

“What’s going on?” Makoto muttered, looking around.

“Look up,” Akira said. The clouds were parting, revealing the blue sky. When the natural sunlight came into contact with the red liquid, it began to crack and shattered after a moment. The bones that were all over the place, remnants of Mementos, began to fade into nothing. The fragments of red blew away with the wind, creating a beautiful sight.

“That’s…beautiful,” Futaba said. The world around them began to glow. Every single thing, every person, everything began emitting light.

“The world, not just the Metaverse, is based on cognition. You see the world in your own eyes, and thus, through your cognition. And therefore, everything can be remade by your own will.”

The Thieves turned around and gasped, seeing Mona shining brightly.

“Mona, you’re…”

The cat smiled. “I was born in the Metaverse. I cannot exist when the core of my existence has vanished.”

“No, not again!” Akira reached forward, but a crack in the road separated them, light forming a wall between them.

“You are all strong in your own right. You all have what it takes to change reality, without the use of the Metaverse. All you need is hope, that humanity can change.”

“Mona, we can’t lose you too!” Ann cried.

“Remember, there is no such thing as reality. Reality is formed through layers of cognition. You will all be able to change the world…”

Morgana began floating into the sky. “The potential of humanity is limitless. That’s what makes every possibility an opportunity, a chance for hope. As long as you have hope, the world will go on…”

The world around them brightened to a blinding point.

~~~

They arrived in Shibuya proper, with the normal hustle happening.

“Damn, I’m going to be late for my meeting!”

“We’re really going into the new year without a Prime Minister? Will this country be okay?”

“Hey, did you finish the assignment?”

No one paid attention to the silent Thieves.

“What do we do now?” Makoto muttered.

“It would only be right for us to inform Hikaru’s father of his fate, no?” Haru responded.

“Yeah, we need to take responsibility for what happened,” Ryuji said, carefully glancing at Akira.

The leader remained silent, looking off into the distance.

“Should we split for today, and properly discuss tomorrow at Leblanc? I think we could all use the time to properly…process what happened,” Makoto suggested, looking worriedly at Akira.

A fleck of white landed on Futaba’s nose, causing her to shiver. “It’s snowing!”

“It is still Christmas Eve…” Ann said, looking up at the sky.

“Let us discuss our next actions tomorrow, then,” Yusuke said.

The Thieves left one by one until it was Futaba and Akira left.

“Don’t stay out too late, okay? Sojiro’ll be worried,” Futaba said, and left once Akira gave her a nod.

~~~

“Ow…where the heck am I?”

“Oh, fancy seeing you here.”

Blue eyes met golden ones.

“You’re…!”

“Come on, let’s head home.”

~~~

Akira was silent, looking up at the sky. Snow was falling gently, one landing right on the tip of his nose. It sent a chill down his spine, making him shudder. He shook his head, deciding to make his way back to Leblanc for the night. The fact that there was no voice echoing his thoughts sent another pang of sadness in his heart.

Morgana was gone, and so was Hikaru. The heir sacrificed his life just to protect the Thieves, right at the last moment. He had watched as Hikaru sacrificed himself to protect them from Yaldabaoth’s attack. He could still see Hikaru’s final smile as he turned towards Akira.

_“Live for me, Kira.”_

A well of emotions clogged up his throat. He could feel the tears beginning to run down his cheeks. Words couldn’t even express what Hikaru meant to him. He was smart, reliable, confident; almost everything Akira hoped that he himself was. Not to mention the multiple times that he was there just to listen. In his entire year in Tokyo, Akira had to listen to the issues his Confidants faced, but Hikaru was the only one who listened to him. Maybe that was why all those months ago, Akira felt that Hikaru should have been the leader of the Thieves. Even now, he still felt like Hikaru would’ve done so much better than what he had.

Hikaru was not just his friend, but his lover. One that he still believed he didn’t deserve. After everything he’s done, after how he’s treated Hikaru, the other still loved him without a doubt. Through it all, Hikaru stayed by his side, working to free him from Yaldabaoth’s control without him even knowing it.

And then there was Morgana. Ever since the start, Morgana had been the one to guide the Thieves through everything they went through, through all the ups and downs. Sure, he had his fair share of issues, but in the end, Morgana was as invaluable as all of them; there could be no replacement to Morgana.

Akira wiped his tears off with a sleeve. There was no changing the past. There was nothing he could do now to bring the dead back. He wished so hard that both Morgana and Hikaru could come back, but nothing could be done. He had to move on.

“I didn’t expect to find the world’s savior all alone on Christmas Eve.”

Akira turned to face Sae Niijima, a concerned look on her face. “Are you alright?” she asked.

“I’m fine, just… thinking. What’s up?” Akira tried to reassure her with a smile, but it came out wobbly at best.

“…I need to talk to you, about the Shido case. But first, let me thank you for saving the world. With this, public cognition should return to normal, yes?” Sae crossed her arms, a warm smile on her face.

“It should. We’ve done all we can, and as we promised, all we can do is leave the rest to you adults.” Akira slipped his hands into his pockets, a habit that never went away.

“And I will do my best. Shido has confessed guilty to the crimes he has committed. Based off of those, we are able to arrest him. In addition to that, we have a witness who was willing to testify.”

Akira gave her a wry grin. “Did Akechi turn himself in?”

“He had said it was his own choice. Hikaru had wanted to ask him, but he had already planned to turn himself in.”

Akira looked back at the night sky, at the moon hidden behind flecks of white. “That settles that, then.”

“He had also asked me to pass this to you. He said it was on Hikaru’s desk.”

She handed him a folded piece of paper. On it was _To: Akira_

“I didn’t want to read it, so I’ve been avoiding looking at it. That’s all I needed to tell you, so I’ll leave you to read it by yourself.” Sae looked back at Akira with a concerned look. “Merry Christmas, Akira.”

With shaky hands, Akira unfolded the letter.

_“Dear Akira,_

_If you’re reading this, then you’ve defeated Yaldabaoth and probably saved the world. And if that’s happened, then I must be gone._

_You can probably guess that I knew this was going to happen. It was inevitable. I didn’t want to tell you all, since I knew that no matter what, it would’ve happened regardless. It was either me, or all of you, and I can’t sit with the fact that I’d allow all of you to die if I could save you._

_I’m sorry. I can keep apologizing, but I know it won’t matter. I’m gone. But how I could wish I could turn back time and be with you. The few months that we have been together had been the happiest I have ever been, and I wish for nothing more than to stay by your side._

_I’m sorry, and I wish things could’ve been different._

_I love you,_

_Hikaru Aozora”_

Akira felt his lip tremble. His hands shook violently. All the emotions he felt exploded, shooting out. He mourned for his lover.

“Hikaru…” He held Hikaru’s final letter against his chest, and collapsed into sobs, leaning against a pillar by Station Square.

~~~

Christmas Day. The season of joy, cheer, and all-around merriness. During this day, one café remained silent, amidst the cheerful alleys of Yongen-Jaya.

“…I’m guessing no one got proper sleep?” Futaba broke the silence. Everybody shook their heads. Akira sighed, sitting on a barstool.

He could barely close his eyes without seeing Hikaru’s smile. Hearing his final words.

“I don’t think any of us could if we wanted to.”

“I thought I came into this prepared for the case of death, but this is still…” Haru whispered.

“Firstly, we should inform Hikaru’s father, right?” Yusuke crossed his arms.

“I can only imagine how distraught he must be. To have his last family gone…” Ann let out a deep sigh.

The doorbell rang, catching the Thieves’ attention. Sojiro had said he was going to close the store for Christmas, leaving it as a place for them to gather. There should be no one coming in.

“What the hell, why is it so sad in here?”

Akira’s head snapped towards the familiar voice. He knew that voice almost as well as any of his Thieves. It was the voice that would constantly berate him for the stupid things he does, albeit with a joking tone. It was the voice that guided him through the Metaverse, making sure that no harm fell upon the Phantom Thieves. It was the voice that would laugh at his misfortune, mixed in with Morgana, Ann, and Ryuji. It was the voice that would silently cry when everything becomes too much but will always try his best to be strong around his friends. It was the voice that was there in his darkest, always quick to reassure and show him the love he didn’t deserve. His eyes widened as he saw the figure at the entrance of Leblanc.

Hikaru entered the store, holding a bag of Big Bang Burger. Everyone was silent.

The heir's eyes were a sharp gold instead of the normal sky blue they were used to, and his hair was a platinum blond, a similar shade to Ann’s hair. But everything else, from how he was dressed to his attitude, everything else was Hikaru.

“It’s Christmas. Season of joy?” Hikaru said, placing the bag of fast food on the counter.

Everyone couldn’t move for a moment, still in pure shock.

“…Hikaru?” Akira said, barely above a whisper. Hikaru grinned.

“Hey there, Kira.”

Emotions overwhelmed Akira as his knees buckled, tears running down his face. He slumped into Hikaru’s arms, who were open, ready to catch him.

“I’m here, Akira. I’m not leaving you. I promised, didn't I?” Hikaru whispered into the other's ear.

“I thought…I thought you were…You asshole!” Ann choked, storming over to hug the two lovers. This soon developed into a group hug, with Hikaru in the middle.

Once everyone has properly calmed down, well, as much as they could. Akira still refused to let go of Hikaru, hugging him tightly and pulling him to sit on his lap in a booth. Hikaru piped up after a moment of silence.

“Oh, I’m not alone, by the way.”

A rustling caught their attention. What was inside the Big Bang Burger bag was not fries, as they thought, but a cat. A very familiar black cat with blue eyes and a yellow collar.

“Mona?!” The cries were synchronous, making Hikaru chuckle.

“Uh, hi?”

"You're just as bad as Hikaru!" Haru exclaimed, pulling the cat into a hug. Morgana yowled, but didn't struggle. 

“Alright, while it is lovely to see you two alive, I believe it is time for explanations.” Makoto crossed her arms, sitting by the counter. “Go ahead, Hikaru.”

“Well…”

_~~~_

_Hikaru opened his eyes, his mind groggy. He tried to recall what happened, but it hurt just to think. He slowly got up, noticing the familiar jail door and accompanying music. At the desk in the middle was Igor, with Lavenza by his side._

_“Ah, Sir Hikaru. Welcome. Come, join us,” Igor gestured to an empty chair facing the desk. Hikaru took a seat, bowing his head slightly in respect towards Igor and Lavenza, who gave him a smile and a nod._

_“What happened?”_

_Igor’s grin widened, if that was even possible._

_“The malicious deity struck the Thieves with an attack that would have meant the end, but you intercepted the attack. However, before you could be killed, I reached out into your consciousness, bringing your soul into my Velvet Room.”_

_Hikaru remembered now. Yaldabaoth was charging up a huge attack, one that the Thieves couldn’t get out of the way of. He had blocked it, at least making sure everyone else lived._

_“We have brought you here as a way of ensuring you go on. We have decided that we owe you a debt, in exchange for assisting in my freedom. However, we are not allowed to interfere directly with human matters, as a part of my Master’s agreement. To that, we have arrived at a proposition, should you choose to accept.”_

_Igor clapped his hands together, a circle of cards forming from thin air. Lavenza stood beside her Master, placing the book in her arms on the desk._

_“This is not the preferred method of performing this ritual, but it shall suffice. We would like to ask you if you are willing to devote your time and efforts to ensure that no malicious entity ever breaks into the Velvet Room again.”_

_“What do you mean?” Hikaru asked, confusion clear._

_“I would like to ask if you are interested in acting as an attendant of the Velvet Room.” Igor tilted his head downwards, eyes staring into Hikaru’s soul._

_Hikaru wasn’t shocked, per se. More speechless than anything. Attendant? So, like Elizabeth or Theodore? Why him? As he thought about it, he realized the gravity of the question._

_But more importantly, was his future. He was a human, with human bonds and relations. What would happen to those? From what he knew, the attendants would stay within the Velvet Room at all times, unless there was someone to guide them out. More importantly, what about his memories? Would he still retain his human self?_

_“Fret not, as this ritual will differ from others. Normally, a ritual is performed to summon forth a being from the Sea of Souls, and a contract is formed. That is how the attendants you have met have arrived to be in the Velvet Room. However, in this case, no summoning is required. It is during this summoning where souls lose their memories and mannerisms.” Igor explained._

_“Should you be worried about the ones you have formed a bond with, worry not. As this contract is looser than with normal attendants due to your human nature, you will be allowed to traverse back to the human realm. However, at times of need, you will be summoned to the Velvet Room to protect our Master,” Lavenza continued. “You will also gain access to the abilities of any attendant, such as the management of the Compendium, summoning and wielding Personas, and other tasks. You will act as a bridge between the Velvet Room and the human realm, allowing us to more closely observe any crisis that might arise.”_

_“However, should you choose to decline, your soul will return to the Sea of Souls, as currently, you have no body to inhabit. If you feel that this is too big a responsibility, it is perfectly within your right to decline.” Igor added, grin not faltering. “Of course, we do hope that you will be able to join forces with us.”_

_At this point, Hikaru realized there really was no negative point to taking the offer. He gets cool attendant powers, can summon Personas, even go between worlds. He doesn’t have to leave anyone behind and can come back from the dead. There really was no competition._

_“Based on what you have told me, there doesn’t seem to be to have a negative to accepting your offer. Is it in the fine print somewhere?” Hikaru asked, tapping his fingers on his thigh._

_Igor chuckled quietly in his high voice. “What we have told you is the rules you have to abide by. Should your human life end by any means, you will be brought here to act as one of the attendants proper.”_

_“Then I accept.” Igor’s grin widened somehow and let out a soft chuckle, eyes closing as the cards began to glow. On the floor of the Velvet Room, blue spirals of magic began to surround Hikaru. It lifted him off the ground, entangling itself all over his body._

_Hikaru was slightly startled, but the magic was gentle, loving. He could feel his body getting stronger, glowing under the branches of magic. It was like a soft touch, sending shivers down his spine. He felt something in his mind, slowly exploring, reaching out. He let out a gasp as the magic wrapped around him tightly. It gripped him painfully, then fused with him. His skin let out a soft hum at the energy now beneath it._

_It wasn’t long before the tendrils receded, lowering him back onto the ground. Igor reached a hand out, and Hikaru, not sensing any ill intent shook it. “It is time for our contract,” the master said._

_“I am thou, thou art I.”_

_The words came from both of them, as Hikaru felt another burst of magic rush through him. He felt floaty after that burst, even after Igor let him go._

_“You will retain the features you have should any human glance upon you. However, any Persona user will be able to recognize and see past the magic on you. They will be able to see your true form.” A mirror was conjured in front of him, and Hikaru was stunned. It was him, but his hair and eye color were different. His hair and eyes were the same color as the attendants he had met: a platinum blond and piercing yellow-gold._

_“Once again, we would like to thank you for your service. For now, rest. You are needed elsewhere.” Lavenza giggled. The music began to slow down, the voice quieting. Hikaru felt his consciousness begin to waver, and before he knew it, the world turned into darkness._

~~~

“And then I woke up Shibuya. So, how’s my new look?” He winked at the Thieves, sticking his tongue out playfully.

“You look hot,” Ryuji immediately replied. That gained some suspicious looks, and a glare and tightening hold from Akira. “What, it’s true! He looks good!”

Ann hummed. “I mean, yeah, Ryuji’s right. You looked fine already, but the new hair and eyes make you stand out even more. But everyone else will still see you as the normal Hikaru, right?”

Hikaru nodded. “Only Persona users can see what my appearance as an attendant looks like.”

“So, do you get like a velvet outfit to go with it or anything?” Futaba asked with a grin.

Hikaru grinned. “Funny you should ask that.”

Hikaru stood up, untangling himself from Akira’s grasp. With a wave of his hand, his clothes shimmered, turning into a velvet blue butler’s suit. The inner shirt was black, with golden cuffs. His hair was slicked to one side, giving the heir a polished look. The slacks were black with blue accents, with dress shoes to finish it off.

With another wave of his hand, all of it was gone. His hair was back in its messy state, his suit replaced by his casual hoodie and jeans.

Ryuji let out an impressed whistle. Akira side-eyed him, immediately pulling Hikaru back into his grasp with an “oof” from the heir.

“You look quite formal in your Velvet Room attire. Perhaps one day you could model for me?” Yusuke asked.

“Sure, but I don’t do nude paintings.”

That drew a few chuckles.

“Believe me, I would much rather not see you nude.”

Akira whispered against his ear. “I would.” Hikaru slapped his thigh, causing the bespectacled teen to let out a yelp.

Morgana gagged. “I see nothing has changed.”

“That’s the beauty of it, no?” Haru replied.

Morgana snorted, a fond expression growing on his face. “…Well, I suppose so.”

~~~

“I’m kidnapping Mona for the night. Don’t do anything I won’t do!” were Futaba’s last words before she left the café for the night, leaving Hikaru and Akira alone in the attic.

“…So it’s you and me, huh?” Akira said with a grin. Hikaru laughed, leaning over to rest himself on Akira.

“Don’t you need to leave soon?”

“Do you want me to?” Hikaru turned to face his boyfriend with a grin. “I think it’s way past the last train.”

“Well, I don’t mind at all,” Akira leaned in to whisper against Hikaru’s ear, sending goosebumps down the heir’s arm.

They stared at each other lovingly, just appreciating each other’s presence.

“…I’m glad I made it out of that,” Hikaru began, closing his eyes. He just wanted to enjoy Akira’s presence, something he had thought he would have lost forever.

“And I’m glad you did too. For future reference, don’t do something like that ever again, okay?”

“I really don’t plan to. Half dying wasn’t fun.”

“Good.”

They stayed together, letting a comfortable silence consume them.

“…It’s sad, isn’t it? The fact that our jobs as Phantom Thieves are gone.” Akira brought up, holding Hikaru close.

“I think it’s fine, though. There’s no point in continuing. You’ve stolen the heart of the public, so distortion should no longer form within the public to the scale of what has happened. It’s a good end.”

“I’m still going to miss going into the Metaverse and blowing things up with magic, though…”

Hikaru chuckled against Akira’s side. “Your Persona’s not gone, you know that, right?”

Akira raised an eyebrow. “Wait, what?”

Hikaru waved his hand, orbs of light appearing. Another wave of his hand and the lights in the attic turned off, letting the room glow with the natural moonlight and the orbs of dim light he had produced.

“Personas originate from the Sea of Souls, the realm of the human unconscious. The Metaverse is only a branch of the Sea of Souls. Without the Metaverse, the Sea of Souls still remains, just as our Personas do,” Hikaru explained, playing with the balls of light.

“So, in essence, what you’re saying is our magic remains?”

Hikaru grinned. “Anything that was enhanced by your Persona remains. Any elements you control, any spells you can cast, anything. Your Persona is an extension of yourself, so your magic is a part of you. As long as the Sea of Souls exists, so will your Persona.”

“How about Wild Cards like me? We draw powers from fusion, so…”

“Are you really asking that when you have an attendant of the Velvet Room right in front of you?”

“Will that attendant give me a kiss?”

Hikaru rolled his eyes, but pulled Akira in, smashing his lips against the other.

They remained locked together for a few moments, only parting for a short while to catch a breath. The night was silent except for their rushed breaths and soft giggles.

“I love you so much,” Akira whispered, face flushed. Hikaru smiled, his golden eyes glowing in the moonlight.

“And I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a draft of this chapter done when I started writing this whole thing. This was the end result, with Hikaru ending up as a helper to the Velvet Room. There were plans to give him those powers mid-Yaldabaoth, but I thought that that was ridiculous and awkward timing, so this was it. With this, Persona 5: The Sky's Reach is almost at its end. Just one more light-hearted epilogue.


	51. The Clear Sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The future looks bright.

“Happy New Year!”

Clinks of glasses were heard as the Thieves cheered. They decided to make another visit to the Wilton Buffet before the year ended, as one final celebration. This time, however, not as Thieves, but as friends.

“Funny to think, though, how everything started from here, just a few months ago…” Akira muttered, turning towards their original group. He remembered what he felt as he encountered Kamoshida, the anger that coursed through him after Shiho’s incident.

Kamoshida was the start of everything. It was where Ryuji and Ann joined, and where they recruited Hikaru. Morgana guided them to their first heist, and a lot of things were played by ear, but they did it. There were a lot of doubts, and a lot more pressure on their first deadline, but they made it.

“Kamoshida’s was a mess…” Ryuji groaned out. Looking back, they were indeed a mess. They had no direction, no navigation, solely trusting Morgana’s senses to lead them the right way. Now, since they’re used to reliable navigation, it seems like a miracle how they managed to secure the infiltration route in time. They basically had to go through an entire Palace to find the Treasure, and so much has changed since then.

“Madarame, however, seemed to be quite problematic as well,” Yusuke remarked. Madarame’s Palace itself was troublesome, sure, but with their experiences now, the group would happily go back to that. Definitely better than flying through outer space or suffering through a desert. With Hikaru’s precise navigation, their Palace infiltration was a lot more efficient, as opposed to Kamoshida’s. There was the issue with the garden door and the whole nude painting operation.

“Oh god, don’t remind me about that place. I almost had to go nude!” Ann complained, drawing out some light-hearted chuckles.

“It was also where I thought you all were going to die, so…” Akira rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face. The final battle with Madarame was eventful, to say the least. From the multiple paintings and Hikaru’s newly acquired barrier to carrying an unconscious navigator and driving off an ice ramp, it seemed that the Phantom Thieves were starting to be a real organization.

“And then it was Kaneshiro… I still apologize for what happened.” Makoto lowered her head. Sure enough, Makoto’s poking and digging did place them in a bad spot. Aozora or not, Hikaru wasn’t able to deny clear, hard evidence the student council president got. With enough pressure, and with no understanding of where to go, they were caught between a rock and a hard place. Lack of information then led the group to desperate measures. Makoto took it to the extreme, leading to their new target and a clear reason.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s in the past. Plus, the bank was definitely the easiest, with how minimal network security there was,” Akira waved off. Hikaru was able to turn off the cameras, even though his Persona wasn’t exactly adept at hacking. It was as easy as flipping a switch. That made the first half of the Palace a literal breeze.

“And then there was the vaults. I must say, looking back at it, it was quite smart,” Makoto nodded, a hand resting on her chin. Having to go back and forth collecting the code proved to be the more troublesome part about the Palace. It did give her ample time to adapt to Hikaru’s commands in battle, however. It served as a way for her to be comfortable with their dynamic, and she couldn’t complain.

“There was also where we had clear evidence that Akechi was the one behind the mental shutdowns,” Hikaru said. He fiddled with the fork in his hand, recalling what Kaneshiro’s Shadow had said.

“And then my place!” Futaba raised her hand.

“Oh, your Palace is still the most fun for me,” Hikaru said, gaining nods from everyone who was present at that point. The Egyptian feel of it, adding on to the Indiana Jones-like booby traps and everything made it fun. Of course, during the time, they were pressured due to the whole Medjed situation, but looking back on it, it was quite fun.

“Probably one of the more serious Palaces we had to infiltrate but doesn’t change the fact that it was fun as hell. I would go through that thing for fun,” Ryuji added. Futaba’s mental state was the main motivator for the Thieves, with Medjed being the secondary threat. The girl was in a rough state, barely holding on. Who knew what would happen had they not saved her in time…

“Yeah, in terms of the change of heart itself, it’s still probably the most important one out of all of them for me,” Ann said.

“But we did it, and here I am!” Futaba cheered with a toothy smile, gaining some laughs at her cuteness.

“After that was my father’s Palace…” Haru wondered out loud. The space station was…something. In Akira’s mind, the whole Palace barely registered, considering what he was going through with Hikaru. It was a rough patch in their relationship, one he was glad he could put behind him.

He did remember the space chutes, though. Those were annoying.

“How is your father? Is his recovery getting better?” Makoto asked.

Haru smiled. “Oh, he’s mostly fine, now. His memory is slowly coming back, and he plans to attest to Shido’s crimes as well, even if it means he will serve some time as well.”

“And Akechi turned himself in, yeah?” Ryuji asked.

“Yeah. I talked with him the night before we went into Mementos. He didn’t want me to tell you all because he said that y’all are annoying,” Hikaru said with a grin.

“Still, it is nice to see that Akechi is willing to change as well,” Ann added, brushing a pigtail back. “Maybe it’s not too late for all of us to be friends.”

“Don’t say that to him, he’ll fight you.”

“It was Sae-san’s Palace next, yes?” Yusuke hummed. “I would like to say that it has a wonderful design.”

The casino was iconic, really. Music was constantly playing as they went through the Palace, causing Futaba, Ann, and Haru to begin singing. It drove Akechi crazy, and amused the rest. Fun times.

“Oh, yeah, I saw the interior of it. Looks so fancy,” Hikaru said in between a mouth of meat.

“And then Shido…” Akira cringed. “Still hate being turned into a mouse.”

The mouse traps were by far the worst part of Shido’s Palace. Granted, there was also the whole ‘Akechi tried to kill all of them’ thing, but Akira would like to think they were past that.

“I thought it was rather fun.”

“You just liked cracking mouse puns, Inari!”

“…Well, I cannot deny that.”

“I personally thought all the Palaces we went through were quite interesting!” Haru chirped. “Though, I must say that my personal favorite is still the casino.”

“We’ve come a long way, didn’t we?”

“Well, to our friendship!” Akira raised his glass, with everyone following suit.

~~~

Hikaru sighed, standing across the street from the gates of the Aozora Estate. Time to get this over with.

He crossed the street and stopped at the gate. The security guard at the door walked over to him.

“Umm, sorry but-Young Master?!”

Hikaru smiled. “Hi. Is my dad home?”

“Uh, yes, the Master is home, but aren’t you MIA?”

“Yeah, do I look missing? Also, can you let me in?”

The guard was stunned, unable to reply, only snapping to action after a moment. He rushed to open the gate, swinging the metal door open. Hikaru patted him on the shoulder as he passed.

The butler at the front door bowed deeply when he saw Hikaru. “It is nice to see that you are safe, Young Master. The Master is awaiting you in his office.”

“Thanks. Can you make sure that we’re uninterrupted for about an hour?”

“Understood.”

Hikaru made his way down the twisting hallways to his father’s office. He gave a knock before entering, closing the door behind him. His father looked up from his desk, putting down his pen once he saw his son.

“Welcome home, Hikaru.”

“I’m home, Dad.”

Kazuyoshi cracked a smile. “I assume you’ve saved the world?”

“The world seems fine to me, so I guess, yeah.” Hikaru smiled as well. “I guess it’s too much to ask for keeping this from you, huh.”

“I have eyes and ears everywhere, Hikaru. Your friends who regularly visited you in the hotel, they were the ones suspected by Prosecutor Sae Niijima as the Phantom Thieves, and that woman’s instinct is usually quite strong. It’s as clear as that.”

“Fair enough.”

“So?” Kazuyoshi drummed his fingers against the desk. “I’m going to need an explanation as to what happened. Don’t leave anything out. Take a seat.” The CEO pointed to the chair across from his.

Hikaru took a seat and explained. He explained everything, not leaving anything out. His father listened silently, nodding along to show he was listening.

“And then you know the rest. Mishima told me about what you did at Shibuya Station Square, thanks for that.”

“I was only doing my part in assisting humanity, Hikaru. I would say you lot did most of the work. Adding to that…”

Hikaru tilted his head in confusion. “What about it?”

“I think I would like you to meet someone.”

“…Dad, I literally just told you, but I’m in a relationship already-”

Kazuyoshi rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I meant, I mean just meeting them, literally.”

“Oh. Go on, then.”

“I would like to introduce you to Mitsuru Kirijo. Sound familiar?”

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. “The Kirijo Group, the one who basically runs anything tech?”

His father nodded. “The same one. Mitsuru-san also runs a covert group known as the Shadow Operatives, unknown to everyone else. All I know about them is that they’re a group that dabbles in something that I can’t fathom to understand. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“So you plan to send your child to scout?”

“When were you this forward?”

“After I got kidnapped.”

Kazuyoshi sighed. “Please stop kidding about that. I almost had a heart attack that night.”

Hikaru raised his hands. “Sorry. I did tell you everything about it, though.”

“Back to the point. I know the Kirijo Group is the only company in all of Japan that can rival the Aozora, so I would like to keep good relations between them. If you could possibly act as a link, I would be more than happy. All you need to do is talk to them and make friends, maybe.”

“Well, if it’s just a talk, I don’t mind. Just tell me when you can arrange a meeting.”

~~~

“Yo, loser, get in the fucking van!” Hikaru yelled, catching the attention of the people around them.

Across the street, Akira sighed, a dumb smile on his face. “What else did I expect?”

“You think we’d let you take the train home like normal people?” Futaba said from his side. “Come on, we’ve got a road trip going.”

“To think we’ve managed to rent a car that’s similar to Mona’s van…” Yusuke muttered from the back row. “How coincidental.”

“Are you done, Mona?” Makoto asked, sticking her head out the window. “Do you need me to help out?”

“I’m fine, just need to do one last…Okay!” The cat leaped onto the hood, shutting it. “Van should be fixed!”

“Don’t you all have school tomorrow? Is it really fine to drive me home all the way?”

Ryuji shook his head. “Nah, spring break just started. You alright, dude? I thought we already told you?”

“I blanked for a moment, Ryuji.”

“So, everyone ready?” Makoto asked, looking back at everyone. She nodded when everyone raised a thumbs up.

“How long will it take us, Hikaru?” Ann asked, leaning against the front seat to try and read over the heir’s shoulder.

“Almost the whole day, really. We can stay overnight or something and maybe force Akira to bring us around.”

“Didn’t bring extra clothes on me, though…” Ann muttered. Hikaru turned around to look at her with a deadpan.

“Ann, two of the people in this van are the next in line to large corporations in Japan. I think money is the least of your concerns right now.”

“Yeah, I don’t mind spending some money so that we can spend some time together!” Haru added.

“There you have it.”

“My friend has been really obsessively creeping on this girl I know, what should I do about it?” Futaba read out from her phone.

“Tell him to cut it out, he’s being a stalker,” Hikaru replied in a monotone.

Akira grabbed the laptop and cringed. “Wow, it’s true. People post all types of bullshit on the Phan-Site now.”

“It’s now just a forum where people can post problems and we can answer, since we can’t be Phantom Thieves anymore,” Futaba said. “The NPC dude said he’ll give us admin power so we can reply or delete anything that’s inappropriate too instead of going back and forth.”

“Well, it’s nice, isn’t it?”

The road trip continued on like this, with a cheerful atmosphere and not a moment of silence.

~~~

“I’ll miss you, Hikaru.”

Hikaru rested a hand on Akira’s, a smile on his face.

“It’ll feel like a flash, I’m sure. Plus, we still can text every day.”

Akira pouted. “But I won’t get to see you at all.”

“Aren’t you coming over for the holidays? We’ll literally see you in, like, 2 months.” Futaba brought up, breaking the romantic atmosphere. Ryuji snorted, Ann giggled, Hikaru chuckled, and Akira sighed.

“I’m being melodramatic, Futaba. Leave me alone.”

“Whoops.”

“I’m sure you two will be fine,” Makoto interrupted, “but we really have to get going if we’re making it back to Tokyo in time.”

“Then let me do this.”

He leaned over to give Akira a kiss, keeping it short. The taller teen began to blush as the rest of the Thieves made gagging noises.

“Okay, let’s go.”

They got in the van, each saying goodbyes and promises to see each other during the holidays. On the way back, it was silent. Everyone in the back had fallen asleep, with Makoto and Hikaru staying awake. Hikaru was staring out the window, thinking to himself.

“…You’ll miss him more than you think, won’t you?”

Hikaru smiled. “Can always count on you, huh, Mako-chan?”

“Don’t dodge the question.”

“…Of course I will. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t? But we’ll have to work through it. I believe we can make it past this. We’ve been through so much more.”

Makoto hummed. “Oh, no doubts about that. You two are strong, and have literally seen the other at their worst. It doesn’t get any deeper than that.”

“Yeah, but I’ll still miss him.”

“I’m starting to think you’re the melodramatic one.”

Hikaru laughed. “You might be right.”

“All I can do is just wait for the next day I see him again.”

~~~

Hikaru groaned. “Leave me alone, Mishima.”

“But I wanted to properly thank you for what you did!”

“You can do that by acting like a normal human.”

Mishima’s documentary had finished, and, as promised, Hikaru had asked for it to be aired. The teen was ecstatic to find out that his work would be aired on national TV, along with long-running programs.

“What’s happenin’ here?” Ryuji’s voice called from the entrance to the rooftop.

“Yo, Hikaru, did you see the new announcement for the new champion?!” Futaba yelled as soon as she saw Hikaru.

“Oh, yeah, it’s fucking broken. I’m so abusing it when it comes out.”

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_9:42 AM_ **

**_AK:_ ** _do you think I can train mona to do tricks_

**_AT:_ ** _he can and will do tricks for fun, akira_

**_AK:_ ** _im so booooorrrrreeeddd_

**_HA:_ ** _a shame_

**_AK:_ ** _you’re supposed to be on my side_

**_HA:_ ** _its 9am im justified_

**_MN:_ ** _Is there really nothing else you can do there?_

**_AK:_ ** _i mean, i could go fishing at the river_

**_AT:_ ** _oh ew_

**_AK:_ ** _exactly_

**_HO:_ ** _Perhaps practice your coffee-making?_

**_AK:_ ** _no good beans. sojiro would cry if he knows im using shitty coffee beans_

**_AK:_ ** _i cant make coffee dad cry_

**_AK:_ ** _wheres my boyf_

**_HA:_ ** _what do you want_

**_AK:_ ** _love and attention_

**_HA:_ ** _not at this time of the day_

**_AK:_ ** _**:(**_

**_HA:_ ** _i literally cannot care less right now_

**_HA:_ ** _go read a book or something_

**_RS:_ ** _yo whats good_

**_RS:_ ** _hows countryside life_

**_AK:_ ** _I want to die_

**_AK:_ ** _theres nothing happening at all_

**_AK:_ ** _theres not even an arcade where im at_

**_AK:_ ** _theres nothing to doooooo_

**_RS:_ ** _sucks_

**_AK:_ ** _my friends are bullying me_

**_RS:_ ** _go play with mona_

**_RS:_ ** _get a laser pointer or some shit_

**_AK:_ ** _…that’s a good idea actually_

**_AK:_ ** _will mona do the cat thing_

**_RS:_ ** _i say yes_

**_AT:_ ** _probably_

**_MN:_ ** _I don’t think so? Maybe._

**_HO:_ ** _Either way, it sounds fun!_

_~~~_

**_11:31 PM_ **

**_AK_ ** **_\-- >_ ** **_HA_ **

**_AK:_ ** _send me a pic of you_

**_HA:_ ** _why_

**_AK:_ ** _im horny_

**_HA:_ ** _????_

**_AK:_ ** _;)_

**_HA sent an image!_ **

**_AK:_ ** _…amazing_

**_AK:_ ** _whoever made that suit deserves a raise_

**_AK:_ ** _fuck me daddy_

**_HA:_ ** _remember what i said about that_

**_AK:_ ** _:P_

**_HA:_ ** _i was going to take my shirt off but i guess ill just keep it on…_

**_AK:_ ** _no bb pls im sorry_

**_HA:_ ** _tough_

**_AK:_ ** _pls i need this_

**_HA sent an image!_ **

**_AK:_ ** _oh baby_

**_AK:_ ** _im…..hnnnnnnnnngh_

**_HA:_ ** _im so not sexting you_

**_HA:_ ** _that’s the most you get_

**_HA:_ ** _enjoy_

**_AK:_ ** _wait no_

**_AK:_ ** _don’t leave me like this_

**_AK:_ ** _what’s under the towel_

**_HA:_ ** _my fucking dick what else_

**_HA:_ ** _a fucking spaghetti monster?_

**_AK:_ ** _lemme see_

**_HA:_ ** _no_

**_AK:_ ** _why_

**_HA:_ ** _read above_

**_AK:_ ** _aww baby…._

**_AK:_ ** _its okay i love you no matter what_

**_AK:_ ** _even if ur dick is small_

**_HA:_ ** _sure hon_

**_HA:_ ** _keep dreaming_

**_AK:_ ** _prove me wrong then_

**_HA:_ ** _you wish_

**_HA:_ ** _now go to sleep_

**_AK:_ ** _cant im too horny_

**_HA sent an image!_ **

**_HA:_ ** _there now go to sleep_

**_AK:_ ** _YOU CANT KEEP TEASING ME LIKE THIS_

**_AK:_ ** _I CAN SEE YOUR SMUG SMILE IN THE REFLECTION_

**_HA:_ ** _lmao_

~~~

**_Phantom Of the Opera_ **

**_10:19 AM_ **

**_HA:_ ** _howd you sleep akira_

**_AK:_ ** _fuck u_

**_HA:_ ** _lmao_

**_AT:_ ** _what happened?_

**_HA:_ ** _ill show you tomorrow in class_

**_HA:_ ** _warning: contains suggestive images of my body_

**_AT:_ ** _oh god nevermind ew_

**_HA:_ ** _its ok i no show pp_

**_AT:_ ** _can I ask why?_

**_HA:_ ** _akira wanna share with the class why i had to dm you images of me half naked?_

**_AK:_ ** _…listen…_

**_AT:_ ** _oh god bless me_

**_AT:_ ** _akira what the hell_

**_AK:_ ** _liSTEN IM A TEENAGER WITH NEEDS OK_

**_MN:_ ** _…Not what I thought I would wake up to._

**_RS:_ ** _oh gross_

**_FS:_ ** _tell us more about hikaru’s spaghetti monster_

**_HA:_ ** _go on, akira_

**_AK:_ ** _I GET IT I AM PROPERLY SHAMED_

**_FS:_ ** _damn right i had to read that bullshit_

**_HA:_ ** _no one asked you to you know_

**_FS:_ ** _…personal curiosity_

**_HA:_ ** _sure_

**_RS:_ ** _i have receipts from last time where akira wanted to get railed by hikaru_

**_HA:_ ** _oh?_

**_AK:_ ** _ryuji for the love of god pls no_

**_HA:_ ** _when is this exactly_

**_RS:_ ** _uhh i think around the time you all started dating? hold on lemme check_

**_RS:_ ** _yeah sometime around there_

**_RS:_ ** _it was when you guys first kissed_

**_HA:_ ** _oh my_

**_FS:_ ** _i saw it it was hilarious_

**_AT:_ ** _send it to me_

**_RS sent an image!_ **

**_AK:_ ** _nO_

**_HA:_ ** _oh this is embarrassing_

**_HA:_ ** _you wanted me to dominate you? should’ve said something about it_

**_AK:_ ** _let me die in peace_

**_MN:_ ** _While I’m sure Akira’s libido is an interesting topic, but may I suggest a topic change?_

**_AK:_ ** _please_

**_FS:_ ** _yo you wanna talk about aliens_

**_MN:_ ** _At this point, I’ll take anything._

_~~~_

**_11:37 AM_ **

**_YK -- > HA_ **

**_YK:_ ** _Are you free today?_

**_HA:_ ** _ye_

**_YK:_ ** _Wonderful. I wanted to ask if you would like to model a piece for me._

**_HA:_ ** _…why?_

**_YK:_ ** _As I said before, I think your new appearance radiates an air of formality and majesty. I would like to use you as a muse for a project I am working on._

**_HA:_ ** _i mean, sure, but i don’t have to be naked, right?_

**_YK:_ ** _That is correct._

**_HA:_ ** _sure ill head over to kosei_

**_YK:_ ** _Thank you._

_~~~_

**_12:10 PM_ **

**_YK -- > AK_ **

**_YK sent an image!_ **

**_YK:_ ** _I thought you would appreciate this._

**_AK:_ ** _yusuke have I ever told you how much I love you_

**_AK:_ ** _you are the fucking best_

**_AK:_ ** _god why does he look so hot with his hair swept to the side_

**_YK:_ ** _Indeed, he does look physically attractive._

**_YK:_ ** _I can understand the appeal._

**_AK:_ ** _im just gonna…be right back…_

**** _~~~_

Hikaru sighed, slipping his hands into his pockets. He looked up at the cloudy sky.

He’s certainly come a far way, hasn’t he? He thought back to April of last year, which felt like ages ago. He was still in a bad state, unable to do anything to help everyone under the control of Kamoshida.

So much has changed. Was he even human anymore? A weird hybrid thing? Who could tell? One thing was for sure, though, he didn’t regret taking that leap of faith all that while ago. Who could’ve guessed that one decision made on the spot in the Velvet Room would cause everything to line up like this?

Hikaru had grown so much, becoming much more confident in himself. He has been wanted by the police technically twice, even though one time was due to him being missing. He now has a group of people that he trusted with his life and even a lover that will stay by his side.

A pair of arms circled his waist, pulling him close. A chin rested itself on his shoulder.

Hikaru smiled, leaning back against Akira’s shoulder.

“I missed you,” Akira whispered against Hikaru’s neck.

“I did too.”

“Also, I thought I could scare you.”

Hikaru snorted. “Keep trying. Maybe one day you’ll pull it off. Let’s go, everyone’s waiting.”

“Can’t we just stay like this for a moment longer?”

“As much as I’d like to, we can do that tonight. I told my dad I’m sleeping over at yours.”

A sultry tone took over Akira’s voice. “Does that mean…?”

Hikaru smirked. “That means whatever you want it to mean, pretty boy. Now, we have a party to attend.”

Hikaru paused as they walked out of the station, looking up at the sky. The heir smiled.

Akira stopped walking, looking back at the heir. “Hikaru?”

“It’s nothing. Just thinking to myself." The heir hummed, eyes shining brightly as he turned to his boyfriend. "The sky’s beautiful today.”

The sky was clear once again, free from the clouds that blocked its brilliant light.

Akira smiled, looking straight at Hikaru. “It sure is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap! I'd like to thank everyone for reading Persona 5: The Sky's Reach. Can you believe it's only a month since I started posting this? Now, I have a few things to address. 
> 
> First off, Royal. I've started writing Royal, but since the original game is mostly the same, I'm most likely just going to write snippets that involve elements that are different from the original game, since it'd be pointless for me to write essentially the same fic again. So, things like Jose, Maruki, Kasumi, Showtimes, all of that. That would be the prologue, and the real story is just surrounding the third semester. It probably would be 10 chapters at most, probably less.
> 
> I also have plans for interactions with the P3 and P4 cast. I have 2 possible ways of interaction: one of them being just a one-shot kinda thing, another being a possible entire original fic with the whole cast. I might publish something for that, as well, or maybe just both of them. If I do write a whole original fic with my own character, however, it's going to take a while, since I need to refamiliarize myself with P3 and P4 characters.
> 
> Would you all be interested in just seeing some wholesome interactions between the characters? I feel quite reluctant to part with Hikaru and his interactions with everyone, so I don't mind writing more about it if people are interested. Some one-shots, more bonding time between the Thieves, that kinda thing. I might also make it request based, since I will probably eventually run out of ideas. You can request some, I'll work on those when I'm either done or burnt out from working on Royal.
> 
> That's about it, really. Once again, thank you all for reading Persona 5: The Sky's Reach! It was fun for me to write, and I hope it's the same for you to read.


End file.
